Transformed
by Riana Salvatore
Summary: Brandy Salvatore was turned in 1964. 45 years later, she returns to her hometown of Mystic Falls with a friend by her side, but there's more than just that to her. She wasn't just turned into a vampire. It was also when she was turned into a woman.
1. Prologue

It was 1964. I wasn't that much different than any other teenager. I liked _American Bandstand _ad Elvis, but I didn't really like this new group from England called The Beatles. They were exactly like all of the other groups that were coming from the other side of the Atlantic.

I lived in New York. I was born in Virginia, but I didn't want to stay there. My full name was Brandon Salvatore. I was 19. My father Joseph had been killed by some sort of animal when I was just a kid. I walked into a record store. I was looking for something new. It was pretty late at night, so I was the only one there, other than the woman at the counter.

"How can I help you?" She asked. She was cute with blonde hair and blue eyes and big tits and a nametag reading 'Rachel' I was debating whether I should ask her to go out somewhere with me after she closed.

"I was looking to see if you had this album by The Animals." I stated. They were the one band from England that I actually liked, even though it was more of the song than anything. They had come out with this new version of the old folk song "House of the Rising Sun' and I loved it.

"We're all out, but we'll have some more in tomorrow." She replied. "You can look around to see if there's anything else that you like."

I looked around the display at the front and all that I saw was songs by these girl groups and teen idols and The Beatles.

"Do you have anything that's not chick music?" I questioned.

"What do you mean by that?" She responded. She looked like she was a bit offended.

"You know some music that dudes would actually like." I remarked. I was a little bit annoyed by the judgmental look that she was giving to me.

"Well we have several records by The Beatles." Rachel answered.

"The Beatles are just a bunch of pretty boys that are going to disappear in a year or two." I declared. "Honestly they're just as much of chick music as everything else here."

"You know I'm getting a little tired of your dismissive misogyny." She declared.

"Well what are you going to do about it, Baby?" I declared as I ran my hand through her hair.

"I'll give you five seconds to leave before I do something that you won't like." Rachel remarked. She looked angry and was trying to sound threatening.

"You know you're cute when you're angry." I told her.

"That's it." She declared as the door suddenly slammed shut. I headed toward it, but I found that it wouldn't open. I then watched as she seemed to push the racks back with her mind. Holy crap, she was a witch.

"Please don't hurt me." I begged her.

"I'm not going to hurt you." She stated. "I have a different plan for you. I think that you need to learn a lesson. You need to see what your so called chick music sounds like from the other side."

She then grabbed my hand and smiled wickedly.

"If anyone asks, you'll tell that your name is Brenda." She stated. She then began to cast some sort of spell and I couldn't move. I couldn't even see. In fact, I passed out.

I woke up a little bit later, feeling different. I seemed to be wearing different clothes. I had something on my head. It seemed to be a headband and my hair was much longer. I also felt shorter.

"I see that you're awake, Brenda." Rachel stated.

"That's not my name. It's Brenda." I remarked. I then covered my mouth. I didn't know why I said that. "You turned me into a chick."

"You're very perceptive." She quipped. I looked in the mirror and saw I was wearing a yellow dress and headband with boots. I was even shorter than her.

"Change me back." I demanded.

"I might, but I don't feel like you've gotten the chance to know what it's really like to be a woman." She remarked. "Come back here tomorrow and if I feel like it, I'll fix you."

I went out into the night and first found that I was having trouble walking in the heels of the boots. I felt a little bit cold as the wind blew against my bare skin. I felt kind of vulnerable.

I walked by a club and noticed that they were playing some music. It was some of that chick music, but for some reason, it sounded better. I couldn't help but tap my feet to it a little.

"You know it's not exactly safe for a girl like you to be out here alone." A man told me. He was tall with long dark brown hair wearing a leather jacket and he was kind of cute…I did not just think that. He looked somewhat threatening.

"I'm not usually out like this." I declared.

"Well let's get this over with." He stated. "Before I kill you, tell me your name."

"It's…Brenda." I stammered. "Brenda Salvatore."

He then sped in front of me.

"Would you happen to be related to Joseph Salvatore?" He asked.

"He was my father." I stated. "Oh my god, you're the one who killed him. It wasn't an animal."

"Well now things have gotten a lot more interesting." He remarked. "I'm Damon by the way, and I decided that killing you won't be enough considering what you father did to me."

He then bit into his wrist and filled my mouth with his blood.

"Swallow." He commanded before looking me in the eye. I suddenly felt the need to do whatever he said. I drank the blood down before he put his mouth into my neck and began to drink from it. I eventually fell to the ground. I had never blacked out so many times in one day.

It was morning when I awoke. I noticed that I had a big headache and I was still female, so I hadn't dreamt that part. I smelled something delicious and noticed that it was a dead body. I backed before I saw a note attached to it.

_Dear Brenda  
I left you something to eat. You need to drank from that body or you'll die and if you do it before the sun goes down, you'll want to avoid the light. _

_Damon_

I couldn't believe that it smelled so tantalizing. It was like I was craving the blood that was inside of it. I got closer and I put my hand in the wound on the man's neck. He was a police officer. I looked through his wallet and saw that he had had a family and Damon had killed him. I then licked the blood off of my hand and it was delicious. I stuck my mouth directly into the wound and drank until I was full. I had just drunk blood. Why had I done that? It then felt a pain in my teeth. It was agonizing. I stuck my finger on one of them and it pierced my skin…well it did until it suddenly closed up.

I decided to head for the door. I opened it and suddenly I felt the sun was burning my skin. I quickly closed the door and headed for the shadows. I was surprised how fast I had run.

As soon as the sun was down, I headed back to the record shop. I needed to get back into my own body immediately because something was seriously wrong with me. She was there and once again, no one else was.

"Change me back." I demanded. I felt pretty hungry. I hadn't eaten all day.

"How do I know that you've learned your lesson?" Rachel asked.

I then rushed over to her and grabbed her. She smelled so good.

"I can't change you back." She stated in surprise. What did she mean?

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I let her go.

"The spell I cast is one that alters the human body." She explained. "You've been turned into a vampire which means you're stuck like this."

"I'm a vampire?" I responded. I supposed it made sense since I had drunk blood and I was still craving it and harmed by sunlight. "This is all your fault. He wouldn't have attacked me if you hadn't done this to me. There has to something that you can do to fix it."

"I can do one thing." She remarked. "There's a spell that I can do so you can walk in the day. You're right this is my fault and now you're my responsibility. You're craving blood and I have to make sure that you get it without killing people. Tonight, I want you to come home with me."

I decided to listen to her since she seemed to have a better understanding of this than I did. Once we got to her apartment, she walked in, but I couldn't follow her.

"What the hell?" I asked.

"You have to be invited in." She stated. "You may come in."

"I'm so hungry." I told her.

"You need blood." She said as she held her wrist out. "Drink from me."

I slowly bit into her wrist and I began to drink. I started to indulge before she flung me across the room.

"You know I'm sorry for this." She apologized. "I only wanted to teach you a lesson. I didn't want it to be permanent."

She sounded like she meant it.

We stayed together for the next year. Once day we were getting some things from the supermarket when all of a sudden, some men with guns came in and opened fire. I managed to avoid being hit but then I saw Rachel on the ground bleeding. I knew what I had to do. I bit into my wrist and fed some blood into her mouth.

I grabbed her and headed out to the car and began to drive. I needed to get away from all of the blood. I wasn't looking and noticed that the light had changed and I swerved to avoid it, accidentally driving off the bridge. Once I was able to free myself, I looked to Rachel and realized that she wasn't breathing and I didn't know CPR. I grabbed her and took her to the shore. She then woke up gasping for air.

"Brenda, don't tell me that I'm…" She remarked.

"Well you're in transition, but I need you to complete it." I stated as I opened my bag and took out the extra ring that she had made me. "We're in this together, Rachel, and we can do this together. And call me Brandy."

2009

"Are you sure that you want this?" Rachel asked me as we sat in the car.

"I haven't been here since I was 17." I explained. "I want to see what home is like."

With that, she drove forward and we passed the sign that said "Welcome to Mystic Falls".

So this story just popped into my head. We're starting with two characters, Brandy played by Lucy Hale and Rachel played by Brittany Snow. Please don't forget to review.


	2. Pilot

"So where are we going first?" Rachel asked. "We should probably find somewhere to stay."

"There's somewhere that I want to go first." I declared. "I want to know if my family still owns the place or if I have any family left at all."

I then took the car to the house. I drove an original 1965 Black Mustang, the same car we had since we lost the old one. The nice thing about being a vampire was that you compel whatever upgrades you wanted for free.

The first thing that I noticed was the sign was no longer there.

"This is it. This is where I grew up." I told Rachel. We went to the door and I rang the bell. It was answered by a man in his 30s, short brown hair that was greying, blue eyes, a bit of stubble.

"We're not opened to guests anymore." He stated.

"Can I ask you your name?" I questioned.

"It's Zach Salvatore." He replied.

"Zach, you're Colton's son aren't you?" I asked.

"How did you know my father?" He responded in surprise.

"He was my brother." I answered.

"That's not possible." Zach declared. Well he wasn't surprised by me being a vampire. "My dad didn't have a sister. He had three brothers, but no sister."

"Yeah, that was my doing. I used to be a witch." Rachel interrupted as she raised her hand. "I'm Rachel Connors, this is Brenda Salvatore, formerly Brandon Salvatore."

"But I go by Brandy." I explained. "If you let me in, I can show you what room is mine."

"Can I trust you?" He replied.

"Yes." I stated. "I would never hurt family. Neither of us have ever actually killed anyone before."

"Well except for this one time that involved a hostage crisis, but that was justified." Rachel piped in.

"You can come in." He invited before we stepped inside. "Do you plan on staying here?"

"If you don't want us here, we'll leave." I offered.

"For now, you can stay." He offered. After Rachel and I went to my old room, I heard the sound of someone jumping off the roof. I looked outside and saw someone that I wasn't expecting to see again.

"Cousin Stefan?" I asked. Stefan was a distant cousin of mine, or at least that was what I was told back in 1953 when he came to visit just after my dad's death. I couldn't help but wonder how much of that was true. He then entered through the window and grabbed me by the neck. He was stronger than me.

"Who are you?" He demanded as I struggled to breathe. Rachel pushed his off.

"I know that this is going to be hard to believe, but you met me before." I asked. "It was when I was a kid in 1953, you told me that you were my cousin."

"You know this would go quicker if you just told him that I turned you into a girl." Rachel commented.

"Fine, I used to be Brandon Salvatore." I declared. "This is my friend Rachel, who turned me into a girl in 1964, then I got turned into a vampire and she couldn't turn me back and then she got turned into a vampire. So how long have you been a vampire?"

"1864." He answered. "I want to keep an eye on you two. I want you to come to school with me tomorrow."

"School? Do you mean college?" I asked.

"No, high school." He declared before he walked out the room. "It would be a good idea to get a good night sleep because I'm waking you up at 7:00."

He walked out the room and I was speechless.

"So he's cute." Rachel commented.

"Did you not hear the part about high school?" I questioned. "We have college degrees."

"It might be fun to try out." She offered. "I want to know if I can pass as a teenager."

"You'll probably want to wear less makeup." I suggested.

"Please I'm the one who taught you all about makeup." She replied.

In the morning, the alarm went off at 6:30. I had no idea what it would be like to be a girl in high school. I hadn't even been in a high school since I graduated. Okay, so I didn't actually graduate high school. I put on a white tank top with a denim vest and shorts that were pink on top and white on the bottom with a blue bracelet on my wrist. Rachel dressed herself in a white blouse with a blue full-length length. I had seen her fully naked and I wasn't attracted to her or any girl. The only thing that I felt was envy.

"You should button those because I'm pretty sure that the dress code won't let you show your bra like that." I suggested as I saw the magenta undergarment underneath.

The two of headed to the school with Stefan. I couldn't help but notice that all eyes seemed to be on us. I was blessed with good looks, which probably wasn't accidental. We headed straight for the office and went to see the secretary who gave each of us a form to fill out. Once they were completed, we handed them in.

"All three of you are missing immunization records and we do insist on transcripts." She declared. I still didn't understand why we had to enroll as juniors.

"No we don't." Rachel compelled.

"Welcome to Mystic Falls High." She told us.

Our first period was English with some guy named Tanner. I listened to him ramble on about Virginia. It was at that time that I realized why Stefan wanted us to be juniors. It was about a girl. The girl was tall with straight brown hair and brown eyes.

After third period, I was met in the hallway by a tall girl with curly blonde hair and blue eyes with pale skin. She had a perky smile on her face.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm Caroline Forbes." She introduced. "I was wondering if you could tell me anything about that guy that came in with. Is he your boyfriend?"

"No, he's my…cousin." I explained. "My name is Brandy Salvatore and his is Stefan Salvatore. We're staying with my uncle at the Salvatore Boarding House, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"I like a challenge." She declared before she skipped away. It seemed like I had just stumbled upon the queen bee.

"So I'm gonna go visit my brothers since I never really got the chance to say goodbye." I said to Stefan and Rachel. "I'd like to do it alone if you don't mind."

"They should be in the family crypt." Stefan told me.

I headed to the cemetery and found headed toward the crypt when I saw someone fall down the hill. I rushed over and saw it was the same girl that Stefan had been watching.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Did you follow me here?" She questioned.

"No, but I saw you fall." I stated.

"And you just happened to chilling in the cemetery." She declared. I was wondering if maybe I shouldn't have helped her.

"I came to see some people." I replied.

"Wow, I'm a bitch." She commented. "I'm sorry. It's the foggy, it's making me foggy and there was this bird…and I'm Elena."

"Brandy." I introduced as I held my hand out.

"I know we have History together." She remarked.

"And Lit." I added. I then smelled something. "Did you hurt yourself?"

"What?" She replied as I looked away. She then rolled up her pant leg and I smelled it more. Veins started to form underneath my eyes and I felt like my fangs growing. "Wow, that is not good."

"You should take care of that." I suggested. At that point, I needed to run, so I bolted. I found the gravestones and noticed that there was a book by a tombstone that said Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. The book had a sticker saying that it belonged to Elena Gilbert. I grabbed it and then headed home.

Later in the night, I looked at the book. I couldn't just hold onto her diary. I had to give it back to her.

"So we were going to get dinner at this placed called Mystic Grill." Rachel told me as I grabbed the book.

"I'll meet you there." I declared. "I have somewhere that I need to go first."

I checked my phone for an address and found that Elena Gilbert lived at 2104 Maple Street. I took it to the house and was about to ring the doorbell when it opened suddenly.

"I was about to knock." I stated. I reached into my bag and pulled the diary out. "I found this and thought that I should give it to you."

"Oh my God, I thought I lost it, thank you." She replied as I handed her it to her. I couldn't take a step further.

"I didn't read it." I assured her.

"Why not?" She questioned curiously.

"A girl's diary is sacred." I explained. "I kept one in the past and I wouldn't even let my best friend read it."

"So how did you know where I lived?" She questioned.

"I googled you." I answered.

"So you don't have to stand out there." She declared as remarked as she put the book down. It was not an invitation.

"Were you about to leave?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I was going to meet some friends at the Mystic Grill." She told me.

"That's actually what I was gonna do after I got done here." I admitted. "Maybe we could go together."

Elena was a very pretty girl and before my incident, I probably would have been very attracted to her, but I didn't see any harm in being friends with her. Considering that I had been female longer than I was male, I would I was pretty good at it.

We headed to the Grill as the locals called it, and got a table with Stefan and Rachel, as well as Caroline and Elena's other friend Bonnie, who was African-American with green eyes. It was kind of surprising that we could get a table for six without waiting.

"So you were all born in Mystic Falls?" Bonnie asked us.

"Stefan and I were but I met Rachel when we were in foster care together." I explained.

"What happened to your parents?" Caroline questioned.

"Mine are dead and Rachel's abandoned her." I stated. Technically she had abandoned them since they were still alive. "Stefan's are dead too."

"I'm sorry." Elena replied. "Any siblings?"

"I don't have any." I answered which was followed by Stefan saying that he had none that he talked to, which implied he had a brother or sister that I did not know about.

"So Stefan…" Caroline said after an awkward silence. "Since you guys are new, you don't know about the party tomorrow."

"It's this back-to-school thing at the Falls." Bonnie added. I had a feeling it would be much wilder than the parties I went to as a teenager. Rock and roll was more important and teen drinking wasn't a huge deal. In some states, you only had to be 18.

"Sounds fun." I declared.

That night, Rachel and I headed to the party. I was wearing a pink tank top with white diamonds on it and white shorts with green flip-flops and Rachel wore a translucent top with a black sports bra underneath and yellow skirt with brown sandals.

"So do you see any guys you like?" Rachel asked.

"No, but I'm gonna try to find Elena." I explained. "I mean, other than you, she's my only friend in town."

I found her just as Bonnie was walking away from her.

"Hi." I declared and she jumped. Maybe it would be better if I walked at normal speed so she could expect me. "I did it again, didn't I?"

"No, it's not you, it's Bonnie…but never mind, you're here." She stated.

"I'm here." I confirmed.

"So do you wanna take a walk with me?" She asked. We both got some beer and headed over to this bridge by the Falls. I always liked looking at them. They made me feel at peace. "Is Stefan single?"

"He and don't tell him that I told you but I think he likes you." I explained. I then noticed that blonde quarterback whose name I couldn't remember looking over at us. "But it looks like he has some competition in that regard."

"Matt is that friend that you want to see if you can be more with but when you date it's not…" She answered before struggling to find a word.

"Passionate?" I guessed.

"No, it wasn't passionate." She agreed. "So, it seems that you, Stefan, and Rachel are the talk of the town, but of course it's not often that new people move here and you all have this mysterious aura to you."

"Well, you're mysterious too." I remarked. I was pretty sure that she didn't know that we were different. "I can tell that you're sad."

"What makes you think that I'm sad?" She asked me.

"Well we met in a cemetery and I kind of saw your parents' tombstone." I explained. I didn't know if it was okay for me to ask how they died.

"Last spring, my parents car went off Wickery Bridge. I was in the backseat. I survived and they didn't." She remarked.

"You're going to get better." I promised. I then suddenly felt very thirsty.

"Your eye." She commented.

"There's something in it." I lied. "Are you thirsty? I'm gonna get a drink."

I quickly walked away and went to go talk to Rachel. Unfortunately someone else found me first. It was another jock. He had a black buzz cut and smirky grin.

"So you're the new girl." He replied. "I'm Tyler, but you probably already knew that. What do you say we go somewhere more private?"

"I don't think so." I declared. "Do me a favor and go fuck off."

"You've got a sharp tongue." He commented before he walked away.

"So it seems like Tyler likes you." Elena commented. "It was probably a good idea for you to say no."

"Well he's not exactly my type." I answered, even though I didn't really have a type since I had not ever been in a serious relationship.

"You've gotta be kidding me." She remarked as I saw a guy walking into the woods. He looked like he was her brother.

"Is everything okay?" I asked.

"Trust me, you don't want to get involved in this." She declared before she walked off into the woods. Something told me that was a bad idea.

I went to see how Stefan and Rachel were doing. A few minutes, Elena and her brother ran back carrying a girl's and she was bleeding from the neck. I knew that I had to get away. Stefan looked like he knew something.

"Stay here." I instructed Rachel. I knew it would look strange if we all left at once.

Stefan and I went home. Zach was downstairs. I knew that he had gotten onto Stefan last night about some "animal attacks" that Stefan said he hadn't done.

"What's going on?" Zach asked.

"Someone else was attacked and it wasn't us." Stefan explained as we headed upstairs. I followed him to his room where the window was open and a crow flew inside. I couldn't understand why he had left it open.

"Damon." He remarked. I gasped as I saw the guy that had turned me and killed my father.

"Hello, Brother." Damon replied sinisterly. "And I see that you've met our little descendant. I notice that both of you have different hair. It's a good idea to stay away fads."

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked him. I could read the animosity between them.

"Well I couldn't miss my baby brother's first day of school." He quipped.

"The crow's a bit much don't you think?" Stefan questioned. I wasn't sure how he was controlling a bird or why he was doing it.

"Wait till you see what I can do with the fog." Damon instructed. I didn't know how he was doing that either.

"You know you left that girl alive tonight." I remarked.

"You're right. That could be a problem…for you two and your little blonde friend." Damon replied. "So you ask why you're here, but the real question is 'Why are you here Stefan?', but I think that can be answered in one simple word: Elena. She's quite stunning."

"Stay away from her." He ordered.

The two of them then got into a physical altercation that involved Stefan launching himself at Damon and the two going out the window that was now closed. I jumped out after them and found that Stefan was on the ground, but Damon was nowhere to be seen.

"Nice with the face, but you could really work on the landing." Damon declared.

"Everywhere you go people die." Stefan stated.

"That's a given." Damon responded.

"Not here, I won't let it." Stefan told him.

"Where's your ring bro?" Damon asked as I noticed Stefan's ring was missing. "You better find it before sunrise if you don't want to be dust. Relax, I have it."

Stefan then went to get the ring and Damon threw himself against the shed. I, for whatever reason, decided to attack, but he moved and I ran right into a pole.

"You two should know better than to think that you can beat me." He warned us. I then noticed a light on. "Oops, I think we woke Zach up. Sorry Zach."

I then realized that I needed to go over to Elena's house to check on her. Damon said that he might try to kill her, even though I wasn't sure if he meant it or not. I knocked on the door. Luckily, she was the one who answered it.

"I know that it's late, but I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." I explained.

"That's all that everyone has been asking me since the accident." She admitted.

"What do you say?" I pried.

"I say that I'll be fine, but no one really cares about the answer." She pointed out. "So would you like to come in?"

"Yes" I replied before entering the house.

So I'm just gonna say right now that there is no chance for a romance between Brandy and Elena because Brandy no longer likes girls. So far Stefan and Zach know her secret. How will other people react when they find out? Please don't forget to review.


	3. Night of the Comet

"So, you're still going to hang out with me now that you're friends with Elena, aren't you?" Rachel asked me in the morning. I had just came out of the shower and was wrapped in a towel and drying my hair. She was wearing a white sleeveless top with a black leather skirt.

"I can have more than one friend." I pointed out. "Besides, I would never just throw you aside. You know that I love you. Let's not talk about that. Let's talk about how the vampire who turned me and killed my dad is actually my distance uncle. Do you think that he didn't want to kill me because we were family?"

"He said that he didn't kill you because your father did something to him." She remarked. "I would think it was more punishment for sins of the father."

I put on a black dress with blue sections on the bodice covered by a black X with a black belt and black belt-like straps and a pair of black heels.

"Well maybe I should ask him what my dad did." I mused.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea considering he's the one who has been killing all of those people." She suggested.

I then went to Stefan's room.

"So do you still have that old copy of _Wuthering Heights_?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied as he took it off the shelf. It said it was written by Ellis Bell. "Did you want to read it?"

"I actually told Elena about it and she didn't believe me when I said I had an original copy." I explained. "So can I take it to school to show it to her?"

"Okay." He replied. "But I am going to need your help in finding a way to deal with Damon."

"Do we have to deal with Damon?" I inquired.

"If people all keep dying the same way, people are going to ask questions." He explained. "This happened before in 1864 and we can't let it get that far because we could be the ones that get killed."

"Okay, I see your point." I admitted. "Rachel and I will both help you."

He gave me the book and I tucked it into my purse. I noticed that he was looking at me funny.

"What?" I asked.

"I just find it hard to believe that you were once a man." He stated.

"That was a long time ago." I remarked. "I barely remember what it's like to be that way. Though, I miss being able to reach things without jumping. Do you happen to know what my father did to Damon?"

"All I know is that Damon killed him." He remarked. "He was already dead by the time that I got here."

"So now might be the time to ask Elena out because I told her that you liked her." I responded.

"It seems like I'm going to find out what it's like to have a little sister." He commented.

"We need to go." Rachel said from downstairs.

The three then headed once again to school. I still didn't like going to school, but I supposed it was a good way to meet people.

During history, Mr. Tanner was talking about some comet that was supposed to be passing over town. While I supposed it was cool, what did it have to do with history? I also noticed that Elena and Stefan seemed to be having eye sex.

"Are we bothering you Mr. Salvatore, Ms. Gilbert?" Mr. Tanner asked. I couldn't help but giggle because they were so busted.

"So that's not the best way to spend your class." I quipped as I walked with Elena in the hallway. I then reached into my purse. "I brought the book."

"_Wuthering Heights_ by Ellis Bell." She read. "So why didn't she put her real name on it?"

"Female writers weren't taken seriously back then." I told her.

"Where did you get it?" She inquired.

"It's just something that's been in the family for generations." I responded. "So what's the story with Jeremy? You didn't really tell me much about him last night. Why did he go out into the woods by himself?"

"He was looking for Vicki, the girl in the hospital." She told me. "He hasn't really talked to people since the accident."

"Well I can understand since he lost his parents. I lost mine at a young age but it does leave a hole in you that takes time to heal."

"Well he's trying to heal with it drugs and it's not going to work." She explained.

After school, Rachel and I went to look for Stefan. We found him outside. He seemed to be eavesdropping on a conversation that Elena was having with Matt. I decided to listen in as well.

"So did Vicki say anything about what attacked her?" Elena asked. Vicki was Matt's older sister.

"She said it was a vampire." Matt replied. That wasn't good?

"What?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, she turns over and mumbled vampire in her sleep." He explained. "I think that she was drunk."

"Probably." Elena agreed.

"I was gonna go back over there." He commented and I noticed that Stefan immediately ran off. I wasn't even sure if the hospital was in the same place.

I then noticed Elena was coming our way. I tried my best to act like I didn't know what she said.

"I was gonna go to the Grill with Caroline and Bonnie. Do you two wanna come?" She asked.

"Sure, we'd love to." Rachel replied.

Once we got there, we got a table outside since it was a nice day.

"My Grams says the comet is a sign of impending doom." Bonnie stated. "The last time it was here, there was a lot of death."

"Well there was a war going on." Rachel pointed out.

"And then poured Grams another shot and she talked about aliens." Caroline joked. She then looked at Elena. "So did something happen between you and Stefan? Did you two have some late night hook up?"

"No, I was with Brandy last night." Elena explained. Caroline glanced at us. "Not like that."

"Well you need to jump his bones before somebody else does." Caroline instructed. "It's easy, but let me break it down for you. Boy likes girl. Girl likes boy: sex."

"It's not that easy." I argued. Well, if there were heavy amounts of alcohol it was, but usually it wasn't.

"No, Caroline's right." Elena replied. I didn't expect that response. "It is easy. I can't talk myself out of it. I'm gonna go see him."

I decided that it would be a good idea to follow after her.

"You can take me home." I offered.

We then headed to my house. I realized that I should probably get a key even though it wasn't really necessary except for situations like this. She probably would wonder why I didn't have a key to my own house. Thankfully the door was unlocked.

As soon as we entered the house, I heard a bird flying through and I realized that he was here. We walked further into the house and there he was.

"Um, hello." She greeted.

"You must be Elena." Damon replied cordially "I'm Damon, Stefan's brother."

"He didn't mention that he had a brother." Elena remarked before she looked at me. "And neither did you."

"Well Stefan's not one to brag and Brenda and I just met last night." Damon explained.

"I go by Brandy." I told him.

"Is Stefan here?" Elena asked.

"No, but I'm sure he will be soon." Damon replied as he led us to the living room. "Please come."

"This is your living room?" Elena asked in disbelief. It was probably bigger than some small houses. It was definitely bigger than Rachel's whole apartment.

"Living room, parlor, call it whatever you'd like. It's a bit kitschy for my taste." Damon replied. "I can see why Stefan's so smitten. I hope you two get to together because it will finally help him get over the last one."

"Last one?" She asked. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Yeah, Katherine, his girlfriend." Damon replied. I didn't know anything about a Katherine. "Oh, I've said too much. Well it's bound to come up now."

I would have to get Stefan to tell me about this Katherine, probably when Rachel was here. I had a feeling that it wasn't a recent thing.

"Hello, Stefan." Damon remarked. I hadn't even noticed that he had come in. I looked to see him. I also wanted to know the thing at the hospital went.

"Elena, I didn't know that you were coming over." He commented. There was then an awkward silence.

"You know I should break out the old family photo albums. I might even be able to one of her." Damon offered. I was glad that he wouldn't.

"Thank you for stopping by." Stefan declared. That seemed to be the nice way of saying 'Go away'.

"Yeah, I should probably get going." Elena agreed before she headed out the door. "Thanks for the book, Brandy. It was nice meeting you Damon."

"Great gal, she's got spunk." Damon remarked. He then looked at Stefan. "You on the other hand look exhausted. Did you overexert yourself?"

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan stated.

"Well did it work? Were your powers of persuasion effective?" He challenged. "You know that compulsion doesn't work right unless you drink human blood."

Damon then walked off.

"You don't drink human blood? Why didn't you send Rachel or I to do it?" I asked as Rachel walked in.

"Do what?" Rachel asked me.

"Stefan went to compel the girl Damon attacked, but he doesn't drink human blood." I explained.

"I was just at the hospital." Rachel remarked as she handed me a blood bag. She looked like she was ready to leave the room.

"Wait." I told her. "Stefan, who's Katherine?"

"Katherine was the vampire who turned Damon and I. She manipulated us so we both fell in love with her and turned us against one another." He stated. "She also looked just like Elena."

The following day, I found out that there was some sort of festival in town to commemorate the comet passing over town. I understood that it was a rare occurrence, but still seemed pretty silly to have a festival.

"So Elena met Damon and I can't help but wonder if he scared her off." I explained to Rachel.

"Well you can't force them to be together." She pointed out. "You know how well that worked out the past. Are you even sure that it's a good idea for him to go out with her. I mean she's human after all and there are risks with that."

"He likes her and I'm not going to tell him that he can't be with her." I declared. "So did I miss anything after I left yesterday?"

"Well Caroline said that the school was looking for new cheerleaders and I told her that we had done it before." She explained.

"You what?" I asked.

"Come on, how can you really experience high school as a girl if you're not a cheerleader?" She asked. "Sure we've never done it before, but we're vampires, so it can't be that hard to learn. The first practice is going to be tomorrow after school."

"I hate you so much sometimes." I responded.

"You would be nothing without me." She declared with a smile. "You can't say that you wish you never met me."

We then went downstairs where Stefan was talking to Zach.

"I'll find a way to deal with Damon." Stefan promised.

"Well you might want to do it soon." I declared as I showed him the paper with two more victims in it. "The more time that we wait, the more people will end up dead."

"Well I want to try to save him first before we try to kill him." Stefan responded.

"I was not suggesting murder." I stated. "Let's talk about how you handled things with Elena yesterday. I think you could have handled that better."

"I was trying to get her away from Damon." He replied.

"Yeah, but you practically shoved her out the door." Rachel stated. "You should talk to her."

Rachel and I decided that we were going to walk to the festival since it was a beautiful day. I did like that it was warmer than New York.

"So is there anything in particular that you want to do at the festival?" Rachel asked me.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

"Well there has to be a boy that you like by now." She stated.

"No there doesn't." I argued. "We've only been here for a few days. I'm not boy-crazy like you."

"I should have made you that way." She replied. "Of course that would have required a different spell. I just did a spell that would literally turn you into what you would look like as a girl."

"You already told me that." I pointed out. It was many years ago and I wasn't sure why she was bringing it up again. "I know I am naturally petite."

"You know if I was still a witch, I could do a lot of things tonight because I would be able to channel the comet." She explained.

"Well you're not." I replied.

Nothing really started until after dark, which I supposed made sense since you couldn't exactly see a comet during the daytime…at least you wouldn't be able to see it well. I heard that seeing something like it was supposed to be romantic, even though I didn't see how it was much different than a simple plane passing over the sky. They started to hand out candles because the streetlights were off.

I noticed that Elena was talking to Stefan about last night. I realized that I still needed someone to light my candle. Even though I could see perfectly fine, I didn't want to be one of the only people without an unlit candle so I literally went to the first candle that I saw.

"Hey, I remember you from the other night." Tyler stated. Why did it have to be him?

"I still don't like you." I declared.

"You don't even know me." He pointed out. He was so naïve.

"I've been around enough guys like you to know that you're the guy on the football team that goes around stealing lunch money and picking fights for no reason. I heard you got into it with Jeremy Gilbert yesterday. So while I may not know you personally, I know that I'm not interested."

Later, everyone was inside the Grill except for Stefan, which unfortunately included Tyler, but I was ignoring him.

"Has anyone seen Vicki?" Jeremy asked.

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler replied. I was right not to like him. "Maybe she found someone else to party with. Face it, pill pusher, you've been replaced."

"What's with the pill pusher?" Elena questioned. It sounded like he was dealing drugs.

"Ask him." Tyler instructed. "She's never gonna go for you."

"She already did, over and over and over again." Jeremy retorted.

"You slept with Vicki Donovan as she in slept with you?" Caroline asked in disbelief.

"And I didn't even have to force her into it." Jeremy replied while looking at Tyler.

"What's he talking about Ty?" Matt asked.

"Nothing, he's just being a punk." Tyler muttered.

"How about all of you shut up and help me find my sister?" Matt suggested.

Everyone got up. Jeremy tried to walk off but Elena stopped him.

"Oh no, you're not going anywhere." She declared as she grabbed him. "So you deal now?"

"I'm not dealing. Dealing implies making money." Jeremy argued. "I'm sick of all of this from you and Jenna."

"Well maybe we could send you to a therapist or rehab?" Elena challenged. "Then you'd have to talk."

"I vote for none of the above." Jeremy declared as he walked away. Elena just gave me an exasperated look. I heard something coming from the roof. It sounded like Damon's voice.

"Go find him and I'll see if I can find Vicki." I told her.

I headed up to the room and I found Stefan and Damon with Vicki. I smelled her open wound and felt my hunger rising, which wasn't helped by Stefan pushing her into my arms. I managed to only drink a little.

"Go ahead and let her tell." Stefan declared. "Let me them hunt me down and stake me. At least I won't have to deal with you anymore."

"Wow, drama queen." Damon commented before he took Vicki and whispered something into her ear and suddenly she looked very confused.

"What happened? Fuck, I ripped my stitches open." Vicki declared like everything was normal. I quickly wiped my mouth.

"Are you okay?" Stefan asked.

"I took some pills, Man, I'm good." Vicki declared before he took her downstairs.

"I forgot how much I like this town." Damon commented. "I think I'm gonna stay for a while."

I then went down myself and found Bonnie and Caroline, but no Elena.

"Do you know where Elena is?" I asked.

"She went home." Bonnie declared. She then took out a sheet of paper. "But here is her number so you can call her."

She handed it to me and then pulled her hand back. I had seen that look before from Rachel. She was a witch, but it looked like she didn't know it.

"What happened to you?" She asked. I just stared at her. "Sorry that was rude."

She then suddenly ran off.

"Yeah, she wigs out sometimes." Caroline stated.

I then went home and a few minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was Elena, who was talking to Stefan. I decided not to eavesdrop but I did give one piece of helpful advice to him as he went outside.

"Kiss her." I whispered and he did.

So as you can see, Brandy fully ships Stefan and Elena. She also had another run-in with Tyler. Are they going to make out or is she going to slap him? Please don't forget to review.


	4. Friday Night Bites

"So I think Bonnie might be a witch." I told Rachel as we put on our makeup. I wore a black lace tunic and jeggings with a leather jacket.

"Why do you think that?" She asked as she turned to look at me. She had on a blue net short-sleeved sweater with a blue tank top underneath and jeans.

"When she touched me, she looked like you did when you found out I was a vampire." I explained. "But I don't think that she really knew what was going on. She knew that I was different, but she seemed confused. I don't think she actually knows if she's a witch."

"Well if she did know, she would be able to read you and probably know not just that you're a vampire." She explained.

"But she doesn't." I remarked.

"So you need to make sure that you have some clothes to wear to tryouts this afternoon." She stated.

"What does one wear to cheerleading tryouts?" I asked her.

"Well generally something like a tank top and shorts is preferred." She answered. "But not jean shorts-something that you can move in."

"So is there anything that we're doing about this?" I questioned.

"It doesn't seem like she knows anything yet, so we don't have to do anything." She replied. "Just try to avoid physical conduct with her and we'll probably be fine."

"Alright, I'm going to trust that you know what you're doing." I told her as we headed out to the car. "So I'm a bit surprised that you haven't invited any guys over."

"Well the situation isn't really ideal, especially with Damon in the house." She commented.

"You know I don't think he came home last night." I stated. Within a few minutes, we were at the school. We got out of the car and met up with Stefan before heading over to where Bonnie and Elena were. Stefan greeted her with a kiss.

"Hey Bonnie." I greeted the witch. Maybe she wouldn't even remember what had happened last night.

"I need to go do…something." Bonnie remarked before she hastily exited.

"I don't think she likes me that much." I declared with a frown.

"She doesn't know you." Elena pointed out. "Why don't you three come over for dinner and my house tonight and she can get to know you better? I can make something and all will be good."

"Okay it sounds good." Stefan agreed. Suddenly a football came flying our way. Stefan turned to catch it and I realized that Tyler was the one who had thrown it.

"Let me." I declared as I took the ball from Stefan and hurled it back at him. He seemed like he didn't expect me have as much arm strength as I did and it hit him in the chest.

"Okay, where did you learn to throw like that?" Elena asked me.

"I was a bit of a tomboy when I was younger." I lied. I actually had learned how to throw as a kid. I had also quarterbacked a not very good team in high school. I was probably better now than I was then…which was kind of sad.

"Forget cheerleader, maybe you could be quarterback." Rachel joked.

"You're going to be a cheerleader?" Elena asked in surprise.

"I don't think Matt would like that." I commented. "Why don't we talk about Stefan's catch? Maybe he should join the team?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Stefan replied.

"Why not? You're great at football." I responded. Sure I hadn't actually seen him play, but being a vampire made him great by default.

"Well I love football, but I don't think that football likes me." He stated. "I mean we saw how Tyler was and we know how Matt feels."

"Their opinions of you shouldn't influence your decision to join the team." I pointed out.

"Plus we could really use you since the team sucks." Elena added. By that point, we were in class. Mr. Tanner was asking people when Pearl Harbor was and no one seemed to know. Was the American education system really that bad?

"Miss Gilbert, Pearl Harbor?" He asked Elena. I could tell that she was struggling with the answer.

"It was December 7, 1941." I answered.

"Thank you Miss _Gilbert."_ He quipped.

"Anytime." I replied. I wasn't born yet, but my dad was in the military. He then challenged me to a series of dates, which all took place during my lifetime, ending with the Korean War, which had ended in 1953.

"Ha! It ended in 52." He declared.

"Actually, Sir, I'm positive it was 53." I responded.

"Look it up." He ordered.

"It was 1953." Rachel declared with her phone out.

The bell rang and the two of us exited the classroom with Elena.

"How did you know all of those dates?" The human asked.

"Well I'm kind of a history nerd." I lied.

After school, I went out to the football field dressed in a pink tank top and two-tone blue training shorts, much like Tennessee Titans colors. The Redskins were probably closer, but I wasn't going to support a team with a racist name. Rachel also wore a pink tank but with white cotton shorts.

"So what do we do?" I asked.

"Well we have to wait for Caroline to get here." She replied. The tall blonde hadn't been in class today. I then heard that Bonnie and Elena were talking.

"By the way, you're coming over to my house tonight." Elena remarked.

"I am?" The possible witch asked.

"Yup, I invited Brandy, Stefan, and Rachel over." She replied.

"Tonight's no good." Bonnie stated. "Seriously, where is Caroline?"

"Don't change the subject Bonnie Bennett." Elena ordered. "You will be there."

"Hey guys." I greeted them as we walked over. It was at that time, a car pulled up. It wasn't just any car, though. It was Damon's car and Caroline was in it. She was suspiciously wearing an ascot around her neck. I pretty much knew what it meant.

"I got the other brother. Hope you don't mind." She said to Elena as she walked by. "Sorry I'm late, girls. I was…busy. To start things off we have two tryouts by Brandy Salvatore and Rachel Connors."

The two of us auditioned with Avril Lavigne's "The Best Damn Thing" as our music. I thought it was an appropriate cheerleader song. I really liked her, especially her newer stuff in particular a song called "I Will Be".

"Alright, you both are on the squad." She stated. "Now let's start with the double pike perky hurdler. Watch and learn, girls."

I was a bit confused by the name. I wasn't entirely sure what they meant by it. I noticed that Elena didn't seem to be as in sync with the rest of the girls.

"Elena, Sweetie, why don't you just observe today?" Caroline asked in a condescending tone.

After a little while of watching, I decided to check out the football team. Stefan was out there and he was handing Tyler's, who was playing cornerback, ass to him. I couldn't help but feel satisfied by that, because I still did not like that guy, which was made worse by the fact that he was interested in me.

"So Caroline seems like a bitch." I commented.

"Caroline's not a bitch." She replied. I just looked at her. "Okay, so she's a little bitchy, but mostly she craves control and perfection and if things aren't up to her standards, she fixes them."

At that point, I saw the ball go up in the air. Stefan jumped to catch it, but Tyler tackled him in the air, causing the ball to come out.

"I'm pretty sure that's an illegal hit." I stated before Tyler leaned over him. "And that's taunting. So what's Tyler for being an asshole?"

"He's just an asshole." Elena admitted.

After everything was over, we all went home. The first thing that we found was Damon downstairs, reading Stefan's diary.

"I saw you practicing today." Damon told his brother. "So did you make the team?"

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"You should read this." He suggested. "Stefan's writing is very Emerson like. You know about Emerson, don't you?"

Stefan then sped over and stole his diary back.

"So don't you just look adorable in your little short shorts?" He asked. I blushed before he looked at Stefan. "You know Elena was there and looking sexy, but don't sweat it, I've got a cheerleader of my own. That reminds me. I have a date: sweaty palms."

"He's feeding on Caroline." I told Stefan.

"We can deal with that later." He replied. "If he's keeping her alive, he needs her for something."

We then headed to the house and rang the doorbell. I could have entered, but it would have still been rude.

"Hey come in." She invited.

We stepped inside of the house and were served some kind of pasta that I was pretty sure that she hadn't actually made and Pepsi. After we finished eating, there was an awkward silence.

"So did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked.

"Well he let me on the team, so I must have you done something right." Stefan joked.

"Bonnie, you missed it earlier Tyler threw this ball…" Elena started before she cut off.

"I heard." Bonnie remarked dismissively.

"Why don't you tell them about your family?" Elena suggested.

"Divorced, no mom, I live with my dad." Bonnie replied.

"No the witches." Elena declared. "Bonnie is descended from a line of witches. It's really cool."

"Cool's not the word that I would use to describe it." Bonnie argued.

"Well it's certainly interesting. I'm not the best versed, but I'm pretty sure some Celtic druids migrated to this area in the 1600s." Stefan replied.

"My family's from Salem." Bonnie explained.

"Wow that's awesome." I remarked. "Salem witches, even though they probably weren't actually witches, were still symbols of nonconformity and they would choose death over admitting to ludicrous accusations because they knew God knew the truth. They were heroes."

"I guess they were." Bonnie agreed. Suddenly the doorbell rang. I couldn't help but wonder who it was.

"I wonder who that could be." Elena remarked as she went to get the door.

"Surprise!" Caroline chirped. She was with Damon. She immediately stepped into the house. "Bonnie mentioned dinner, so we brought dessert."

"I hope you don't mind." Damon added as he stood outside.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm waiting for Elena to invite me in." He responded.

"Sure come…" She started.

"No." I cut her off. "You don't really want to be here, Damon, do you?"

"It's fine. Come in." Elena invited. I really hoped that wouldn't come back to bite her…literally.

So after that, we all sat in the living room.

"I cannot believe Tanner let you on the team." Caroline gushed. "Tyler must have been pissed."

"He was." I replied.

"Elena wasn't so lucky, but it's only because she missed summer camp." The blonde continued. "I don't know how she'll ever learn the routine."

"We'll work with her on it." Rachel remarked as Caroline pondered putting her in the back.

"You know you don't seem like the cheerleader type." Damon noted. Why because she was not blonde?

"That's only because she's going through a blah phase because her parents died. She used to be way more…ow." Caroline replied before I kicked her in the shin. "And I say that with utmost sensitivity."

"I'm sorry Elena." Damon stated. "Stefan and I have watched just about everyone we've ever loved die."

"We don't need to go into that right now, Damon." Stefan declared.

"You're right Stefan." Damon agreed. "The last thing we need to bring her up."

Shortly after, Elena and Damon were doing the dishes and Bonnie was in the bathroom, leaving us with Caroline.

"So Elena really did used to be happier, but I'm glad that she's getting it back." Caroline explained.

"That's a nice scarf." I commented.

"Thank you." She stated.

"Can I try it on?" I inquired.

"No. I can't take it off." She replied.

"Why not?" Stefan asked.

"All I know is that I can't take it off." She explained before Damon came out.

"Why don't you go and help Elena and Bonnie with the dishes?" He suggested.

"Do I look like I do dishes?" Caroline scoffed.

"Go help in the kitchen." He compelled.

"I'm gonna go see if they need any help with the dishes." Caroline remarked before she walked off and I looked at Damon disapprovingly.

"She's not a doll, Damon." I stated.

"Sure she is." He replied. "The world is my dollhouse."

"I think you should go." Stefan said.

"Okay, but I can come back whenever I want. I've been invited." He declared.

The following morning, I went to put on my cheerleading uniform but there was one thing on my mind. I couldn't find Zach to find out if the growing still occurred.

"Do you have any vervain?" I asked.

"I was actually planning on giving some to Elena in this necklace that I found many years ago." He told me as he showed it to me.

"Okay." I declared. "God, this is so tight."

Once I got to the school, I noticed that everyone seemed to be looking at me.

"So you're a cheerleader now." Tyler stated.

"I saw what you did to Stefan yesterday." I remarked. "How many times do I have to say that I'm not interested?"

"I just wanted to say that you look good." He stated before he walked away.

Later, I was with the other cheerleaders, which Elena seemed to be strangely absent from, while Tanner was giving a speech. If there was one thing that he was good at, it was riling up a crowd.

I then noticed that Tyler walked away the team as Tanner was gushing over Stefan and heard punches being thrown seconds later. I rushed over to see that Tyler was fighting with Jeremy, or he was beating on Jeremy.

"Get off of him." I declared as I tore him off. He looked a bit surprised, but it didn't last very long because Jeremy got up and swung a broken bottle at him. I stepped in the way and my hand got sliced open. I knew it wouldn't last. I tried to hide it.

"Jeremy, what the hell?" Elena asked. She was definitely not in her uniform. "Go home now."

She then turned to look at me.

"Let me see it. Is it deep?" She asked as she grabbed my hand, which had already healed. "What?"

"He missed." I lied.

"No, I know that he hit you." She declared.

"I need to go get on the field." I remarked. At that moment, I was glad that she had left the squad. I decided it would be a good idea to cover it up just so no one would ask questions. I was first found by Caroline.

"Are you okay? Can you cheer?" She asked.

"I'm fine. Just give me a minute." I declared.

I then headed out to the parking lot and found Stefan and Damon.

"You're not going to kill her." Stefan stated. "You see Katherine in her and that's why you want her alive. You loved Katherine and you hate me for what happened to her. Your anger: that is your humanity."

"Salvatore!" Tanner remarked. He shouldn't have been here. "What the hell? We have a game to play."

"If that's my humanity, what's this?" Damon challenged before he bit into the teacher's neck. He was dead before we could even do anything about it. "I'll kill anyone, anytime, anyplace."

He then darted off.

"I don't think there's going to be a game tonight." I told him. "We should get out of here."

It wasn't long until they found the body. It was Matt that had discovered him. I had to do my best to act like a scared girl when a body is found. I had only seen it on TV, so I hoped that I would be good at it. I took a seat on the sidewalk near where they had found him.

"Hey, are you alright?" Tyler asked me.

"You're really not the person that I want to see right now." I told him.

"Well, I was wondering if maybe you needed a ride home." He replied. "I can't believe that he's dead. How did an animal even get out here without anyone seeing it?"

"It must have been a pretty fast animal." I replied as I shivered in the cold air. He decided to drape his jacket over my shoulders like a gentleman. "Thank you. I'm gonna go, so I imagine that you probably want this back."

"Keep it." He stated. "It looks good on you."

So Brandy and Tyler might have something forming, but there's still the issue of Damon. Brandy can't be with anyone while Damon is like that. Please don't forget to review.


	5. Family Ties

I shot awake after having a dream of Damon killing Elena.

"What is it?" Rachel asked sleepily. That was when we saw him. "Damon."

"Get out." I told him.

"Don't you want to talk about that dream you had?" He asked. "It's pretty to get inside of your head."

I then grabbed a knife off my nightstand and threw it at him, hitting him right in the chest. He seemed unfazed by it and casually took it out.

"Okay I deserved that." He remarked. "I just wanted to tell you that they caught the animal that killed Coach Tanner and all those people."

"No, you're still here." Rachel pointed out.

"It was a mountain lion, a really big one. It attacked a hunter this morning." He explained. "You should have seen it. 'Deadly Beast Captured. All is Well in Mystic Falls.'"

"Why would you cover your tracks?" I asked as I got out of bed.

"I've decided to stay a while." He replied. "I believe that this is yours."

He then stabbed me right between my breasts and I gasped in pain before he left the room.

"Why don't we just kill him?" Rachel asked.

"Because Stefan doesn't want to." I declared as I pulled the knife out. "We'll figure something out but I actually do have a possible, but I'd have to talk to Zach about it first, though I don't think he's here right now."

"Well maybe we should go get some breakfast or lunch at the Grill?" She suggested.

"I guess we can do that. I call first shower." I declared as I raced into the bathroom and closed the door.

After my shower, I went downstairs wearing a white tank top and a layered black skirt and black flats. I noticed that Stefan was watching TV. The sheriff, who seemed to be Caroline's mom was talking about the mountain lion.

"You know puma mountain lion is redundant." I remarked.

"Well the real monster is still out there." He stated.

"You're so poetic about it." I told him as Rachel came downstairs in a white tee with a red cardigan and jeans. "If you see Zach, let him know that I need to talk to him about something."

The two of us then headed to the Grill and I happened to see that Tyler appeared to be having lunch with his family or brunch or whatever. Jeremy was also there.

"So what's going with you and Tyler?" Rachel asked as we took a seat.

"Nothing, other than I can't stand him." I explained. "Besides, he has a girlfriend, so even if I did like him, he would be unavailable."

"Well he doesn't exactly seem very into her." Rachel commented.

"All of the more reason to avoid him." I added. "So they're talking about this Founder's Party. They used to do that when I was younger."

"Well we should go to it." She suggested.

"I don't even know if we can." I replied.

"Well why don't you go ask them right now?" She told me. I sighed and went over to the table.

"Excuse me, Mayor Lockwood." I declared. "My name is Brandy Salvatore. I couldn't help but overhear you talking about the Founder's Party. My friend and I were wondering when it was."

"It's tomorrow evening." He stated. "We hope that you can make it."

"Thank you." I told him as I walked away.

"Now she would be a great girl for you to ask, Tyler." Mrs. Lockwood said to him. I probably would say no because there was no way I was going with him.

I later noticed that Tyler ended up asking Vicki. Whether he respected her or not, she was still his girlfriend. Jeremy seemed to be jealous, but I wasn't. The two of them then headed home to see that Damon had Zach by the neck before he put him down. Stefan arrived around the same time.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Zach and I were having a family moment." Damon stated before he walked off.

"Are you okay?" I asked Zach.

"No!" Zach declared. "And neither are any of you. You said that you would do something, so why haven't you done anything yet?"

"I can't, Zach." Stefan replied. "I'd have to drink human blood to be stronger than him and Brandy and Rachel aren't as strong as him even when they do."

"Vervain could weaken him." Zach pointed out.

"Vervain hasn't here grown since 1865. Damon sought to it." Stefan explained. I noticed a look on Zach's face. He had shifty eyes. It looked like I wouldn't need to ask him about it. He led us downstairs to the same room and there it was. Several vervain plants were growing. "You've been growing it."

"It's something that's been in the family for a longtime." I explained. "I was actually going to ask if you were still doing it."

"Blood only runs so deep when you're related to vampires." Zach stated. That was probably true. "Damon would kill me if he knew that I had it."

"But you're telling me, why?" Stefan asked.

"I trust you and you're going to need it to have the upper hand against Damon." Zach explained. It meant that we had a weapon, but we still had to figure out how to use it. There had to be a way to trick him into ingesting it. I began to think before coming to something that could work.

The following day, Rachel and I were getting dressed in our room. We were basically tagging along with Stefan and Elena. I was wearing a blue dress with a black lace net on the bust and black sides and straps and Rachel wore a yellow strapless dress with her hair up. We then went into Stefan's room. Before I could even put my plan in place, I noticed that Stefan had a plan of his own. It involved putting some vervain into Damon's favorite scotch. I was pretty sure that I hadn't ever seen him drink scotch.

"This isn't going to work." I replied as he poured himself a glass and then put the vervain in. I didn't want any because I didn't like scotch.

"Do people still wear ties to these things?" Damon asked as he entered the room. '

"I would think so." I quipped.

Damon then picked up a picture of Katherine off of Stefan's nightstand.

"1864, you and Katherine were the perfect couple." He stated. "It's too bad that you were too much of a gentleman to give her what she really wanted. Luckily, I was there."

"Sounds like you were a really good man." Rachel remarked. "Nothing says integrity like sleeping with your brother's girlfriend."

"Well integrity is overrated." Damon replied. "You know it's awesome not growing old. I like being the eternal stud."

"Yes, being a teenager for the last 149 years has been the height of my existence." Stefan quipped.

"You made a funny Stefan." Damon responded. "So I've driven you to drink."

"Well you won't leave so what else am I supposed to do but keep living my life?" Stefan asked.

"Now that is where your problem lies. You're dead, Dude. Get over it." He replied.

"So do you want any?" Stefan asked.

"Sure." Damon remarked before he helped himself to a glass. He then poured it out right before it reached his lips. "I admire you efforts Stefan. You poured yourself a glass and then spiked the bottle with vervain. I'm not a drunk sorority girl. You can't roofie me. So where did you get the vervain?"

"I'm not telling." Stefan replied.

"Well your plan was kind of obvious considering the two resident sorority girls weren't drinking anything." Damon explained. I couldn't help but wonder how he knew we were in a sorority. Those were some crazy nights. Technically, we still weren't supposed to be allowed at the Statue of Liberty. "But I thought that we were having a moment. I can't help but feel a little used. Now I'll have to go to the party angry. Who knows what I'll do?"

He then left the house, seemingly to go pick up Caroline. I had to remember to do something to make sure those two wouldn't ever get back together. Maybe I could compel her to never want to see Damon again. I would have to think about what to do there.

We then met Zach in the hallway.

"That was his favorite scotch." Zach stated. "I really thought that it would work."

"I didn't." Stefan replied.

"You knew it would fail?" Zach asked.

"He won't expect me to try again so soon." Stefan remarked.

"Actually he might, but he won't expect me to try at all." I declared. "I have a plan, but I need some vervain to make it work."

Zach handed me a vial.

"This is twice of what I put in the scotch." He stated. Again, I was pretty sure that Damon did not even drink scotch.

We then went to Elena's house to pick her up before we headed to the Lockwood mansion, which was still in the same place that it was 50 years ago. There was a _long _line of people almost going to the driveway. Okay, so I was exaggerating a little, but it did look like everyone in town was there. It seemed like it was a lot more popular than it was before.

We finally got to the door and there was no one there to invite us in. It seemed like it was a little bit of a problem.

"Hey, Mayor Lockwood." Elena greeted, which got him to turn around and face us.

"Hey, guys, come on in." He invited. That seemed pretty careless. I walked in and he seemed to recognize me. "Hey, it's Brandy right."

"Yes, sir." I replied.

"Well, I'd like to welcome you to Mystic Falls." He declared as he shook my hand. It was a little creepy. I decided that I wanted to get away from and headed upstairs toward the exhibit while started to look for someone to dance with. I knew it would be okay because she wouldn't want to bring anyone home because I still had no idea how the night was going to turn out.

I looked at the exhibit and noticed that Stefan and Elena were almost there. They were just the cutest couple. I only wished that Stefan was able to be honest with her, but he wasn't. They seemed to be looking over the Gilbert existence.

"Your parents?" I asked.

"There's a lot of history here." She stated and yet there wasn't a Salvatore exhibit. We had plenty of old things. I couldn't help but think it was because no one asked. The Salvatore name didn't seem to be what it was before. "Hey they have the original town charter."

We walked over and I spotted some names on there that I knew would draw attention.

"Look at all of these familiar names." She continued. "Sheriff William Forbes, Mayor Benjamin Lockwood, Dr. Jonathan Gilbert…is that Damon Salvatore…and Stefan Salvatore?"

"The Original Salvatore Brothers." Damon interrupted as I saw him and Caroline in the doorway. I realized that I needed to find a way to get my plan into action. I still wasn't entirely sure how I was going to do it. I noticed that they had several people serving drinks. "Our ancestors, it's an interesting story."

"We don't need to bore them with stories of the past, Damon." Stefan replied. I was a bit intrigued by what kind of story Damon would come up with for that.

"It's not boring, Stefan. I'd love to hear about your family history." Elena remarked.

"Well I'm bored." Caroline stated. "I want to dance, but Damon won't with me."

Damon did strike me as someone who didn't dance. He probably would be pretty good at it considering his age since he probably would have been alive for the most of the major American dances.

"Do you mind if I borrow your date?" She asked. Obviously she was asking Elena since I didn't have a date.

"I'm not really much of a dancer." She lied.

"Sure he is. Stefan does it all: the foxtrot, the jitterbug, The Soulja Boy." Damon piped in. Okay, I knew that he was lying, but I would pay to see Stefan doing that. The song that accompanied the dance was pretty awful though. Actually, most songs that accompany dances are pretty awful, one of the few exceptions being 'Billie Jean', but I still thought it would have worked better as a serious song.

"Well sorry, I'm not going to take no for an answer." Caroline replied before she dragged Stefan away. Even though I was pretty sure that Damon had compelled her to do so, it was still kind of funny to see.

Damon then told a story about how the Salvatores both loved a woman and they tried to save her from the fire in Fell's Church. If any of the story was true, then the woman was probably Katherine. He also said that they were both shot dead as they attempted to and the people in the church were Union sympathizers aka vampires.

"So I need to use the bathroom." I declared before I made my exit. I headed downstairs and found Stefan was dancing with Caroline. I grabbed two drinks off of a tray and poured the vervain into one of them. "Could I interest you in some drinks?"

"Just tell me if you see my mom." Caroline stated as I handed her the glass with the vervain in it.

I then took a glass for myself and headed over to the yard. I couldn't help but notice that Tyler and Vicki were fighting. He seemed not to want her around the party. It was almost like he was embarrassed to be seen with her. Well I could see the reasons considering that she was a slutty drug addict, but she looked like she had tried really hard to clean herself up and she wasn't getting a chance to show it. It was kind of sad.

I headed began to walk back to the dancefloor, which involved crossing by them. It was made somewhat worse by the fact that his mother was there.

"Hey, you're Brandy, right?" She asked. I nodded. "Maybe two should dance together."

It seemed to me like it was more an order than a request. I sighed and held my hand out so he could take me to the dancefloor.

"So I'm not really much of a dancer." He admitted.

"Well I'm only doing this because your mom basically didn't give me a choice." I declared. "So how are things with Vicki?"

"I think they might be over." He explained. I wasn't sure how he felt about it.

"I'm sorry." I declared. Getting broken up with was never fun. "So I don't think that your mom is watching, so I'm going to go now.

I walked away and noticed that Stefan and Elena seemed to be fighting about Damon. I couldn't help but wonder what else he had said to her.

I then went to the bathroom and found that Caroline and Elena were there as well.

"So were dancing with Tyler?" Caroline asked.

"His mom basically made us do it." I explained. "I wouldn't do it of my own free will."

"So how are things with Stefan?" She asked Elena.

"They're fine." Elena replied.

"Really, my radar off must be off then because I thought that you were dunzo." Caroline replied. "It was at that time that I saw a bite mark sticking out underneath her choker.

"What is that?" Elena asked.

"It's nothing." Caroline lied before Elena took her cardigan off to reveal more marks. Why was Damon biting her in so many different places? "Stop it."

"Caroline, that is not nothing." Elena declared. "Did Damon hurt you?"

"Of course not." Caroline replied. "Just leave me the fuck alone."

She then stormed out of the bathroom.

"Did you know about this?" She asked me.

"Of course I didn't know about this." I responded. "But I do have a plan to deal with it."

"Does it involve going to the police, because that's what we need to do?" She asked.

"No." I replied. "Elena, I know that you don't understand, but I need you to trust me right now."

"Trust is earned, Brandy." She told me before walking away.

A few minutes later, I went outside and that was where I found Damon, choking on the vervain that I had slipped into her blood.

"You know you're so predictable Damon." I stated. "I knew that you wouldn't be able to resist a drink, so I made sure to give her something beforehand. Now that the headline is going to read 'Deadly Beast Captured! All's Well in Mystic Falls."

With that, Stefan, Rachel, and I took him back to the house and locked him in the dungeon.

So Damon's been captured but things between Elena and Brandy aren't exactly going well. How is she going to fix them? Please don't forget to review.


	6. You're Undead to Me

Stefan and I were in the dungeon…yes the house had a dungeon…as we watched Damon awaken. He was weak because we had been injecting him with vervain. We had also removed his ring and hidden it so he couldn't get it back if he escaped. I was currently wearing a black strapless floral tunic with jean shorts and a cross necklace.

"Where's my ring?" He asked weakly.

"You won't be needing it anymore." Stefan answered.

"What day is it?" He inquired.

"It's Friday." I replied.

"What are you doing to me?" Damon questioned.

"In the old days when a vampire's actions threatened to do harm to the whole race, they thought to reeducate him rather than punish him." Stefan explained. I wasn't sure if any of that was true.

"You know what will happen if I don't feed." Damon responded.

"Yes, and we don't need to talk about it." I stated.

"Once it's over, we'll move you to the family crypt and in 50 years, we'll reevaluate you." Stefan remarked.

"Stefan, I don't know if I'm comfortable putting him there. My father is there. My brothers are there." I reminded him. "Why can't we put him somewhere else or even just leave him here?"

"We can discuss it again when the time comes." Stefan declared.

"I'm stronger than you think I am." Damon tried to boast. He coughed, which didn't help his case.

"Things are different now. I'm sorry that things had to be this way, but you left me no choice." Stefan replied. We then left the dungeon and headed to the kitchen where Zack was.

"So how's Damon?" Rachel asked as she also entered the room. She was wearing a black sweater with a white lace miniskirt and black lace-up heeled boots. She looked like she was ready for school because I told her that we were going. We had missed all week so far.

"He's awake." Stefan remarked. He then looked at Zach. "He's weak, but you probably shouldn't go down there alone. He can still hurt you."

"Are you three going to school?" Zach asked.

"I came here to have a life and I want to get back to that." Stefan replied. "That is if Elena will still speak to me."

"Ditto." I added.

"Why haven't either of you called her?" Zach questioned.

"What am I supposed to say? That we have Damon locked up in the basement?" I retorted.

As Rachel and I headed to school, I realized that I did need to say something to Elena to explain I couldn't help but wonder if she was madder at Stefan or me. Sure, Stefan was her boyfriend, but I was her friend and I was supposed to be there for her, especially when her boyfriend was MIA.

"What's this?" Rachel asked as she saw a sign on the wall for something called a Sexy Suds Carwash.

"It looks like it's a bikini carwash." I guessed. Okay, it was more of a deduction considering there was a bikini on the poster.

"There's Elena." She stated, pointing at the brunette. She was talking with Bonnie. "Go over there and talk to her right now."

"Okay, wish me luck." I replied. I headed over to where the two of them stood. "Hi."

"I need to go see a teacher about…something." Bonnie remarked before she walked away. She needed to work on her excuses.

"I'm sorry that I haven't been around or called or texted or anything." I stated.

"What were you doing?" She asked me.

"Stefan and I were dealing with Damon. I was also taking care of Rachel who was sick." I said. "She's better now."

"Well did you deal with Damon?" She asked. I nodded. "And you couldn't call me?"

"I'm really sorry." I apologized. "I don't know what to say. I'm also here on behalf of Stefan. He said that he wants to meet you at the Grill today at 4:00 so he can give you his apology."

"Sure." She replied halfheartedly.

"I will make this up to you." I promised her. "I'm your friend and I let you down."

"Brandy, where is Damon?" Caroline asked after appearing suddenly. "He has some major apologizing to do."

"He's gone, Caroline." I explained.

"Well when's he coming back?" She questioned.

"He's not." I answered before I walked off to class.

After school and cheerleading practice, I began to head home. Despite not having a team to cheer for, we still had cheerleading. I was pretty sure it was to get ready for competitions or something. Maybe it was just because that was how Caroline was. However, in the parking lot, I literally ran into someone. I wasn't that surprised who it was.

"So you're back." Tyler stated. "I thought you might have left."

"I was just doing some things that were more important than school." I replied.

"I wish my parents would let me do that." He remarked. "Sorry, I forgot that you're basically on your own."

"I'm not on my own. I have my uncle watching over me." I replied. "Not to mention, Rachel and I have been together for most of our lives."

"So are you coming to the carwash tomorrow?" He asked. I realized that he must have been imaging me in a bikini.

"Well I am required to be there and so are you if I'm not mistaken." I replied.

"Well you're going to have to fight off dozens of girls if you want a piece of me." He teased.

"I'll let those girls fight. I don't want a piece of you." I responded. "Now if you excuse me, I have to go home."

When I got there, I heard a struggle coming from the basement and I raced down to that Damon had Zach by the neck.

"Keep it up, Damon." Stefan replied. "The more energy you expend, the faster you'll go."

"Stefan, do you realize what time it is?" I asked him. "I told Elena you'd be at the Grill an hour ago. You need to go now."

He came back about 15 minutes later.

"Something tells me that you didn't just have a long talk with Elena." I remarked. "What happened?"

"This old man came up to me and said that he knew me." He explained. "I'm not quite sure who he was, but I'm guessing that he saw me when he was younger. The ordeal interrupted my conversation with Elena and I didn't have an explanation for it and she just left. I'm not sure what to do."

"How about you let me try something?" I suggested. "I have an apology of my own to make. I promise that I'll get her to talk to you again, but you're going to need to be more honest with her. You don't have to tell her everything, but you can tell her more about yourself. Now if you excuse me, I need to go to the grocery store."

I headed to the door, but was stopped by Rachel first.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"I'm going to go make nice with Elena." I replied. "It's something that I need to do alone. I have a lot of making up to do."

At the store, I grabbed something that was pretty easy to make. I knew how to cook, but I wasn't great at it. Most of what I had learned came after I was turned, unsurprisingly. I knocked on the door, hoping that someone other than Elena would answer it.

"Elena's not here." Jeremy declared.

"Did she tell you to say that?" I asked. "Look I want to make her dinner to apologize for avoiding her. Do you think you could send her down in a few minutes after I've had some time to set up? Please help me, Jeremy."

"You're lucky that you're too adorable to say no to." He commented. For once, that was a good thing. "Come in."

I stepped inside of the house and began to empty my bag. I turned the oven on as I began to chop.

"So does Elena like chicken parmesan?" I questioned.

"Yes, it's her favorite." He answered. That was a nice coincidence.

A few minutes later, I heard someone coming down the stairs. I continued to work.

"Jenna?" Elena asked as she entered. "Brandy…"

"Hi." I declared.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned.

"I'm making dinner." I announced like nothing had happened. "Jeremy said that you loved chicken parmesan."

"But why are you in my house making dinner?" She responded.

"I know that I have some apologizing to do and I want you to give Stefan another chance." I explained. "I told him not to come. I want to give you the opportunity to get to know me."

"Brandy, you don't have to do…" She started.

"Let's start with my life. Yes, I was born here, but I spent most of my life in New York." I explained. "Growing up had some challenges, it was just Rachel and I. We took care of each other and depended on one another. I don't know how I would have been able to do it without her."

"I'm sorry." She declared.

"But let's get away from the Lifetime Movie stuff." I suggested. "I am a huge fan of the Beatles and several other of the British invasion bands. My favorite song would probably be 'House of the Rising Sun' by The Animals, but I also love Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift and even Ke$ha. I've seen a lot of lot of old movies _Psycho, Bonnie and Clyde, Major League._ In fact, I love pretty much all baseball movies except _A League of Their Own._ Of course, I also really love Nicholas Sparks movies. Sure, they're pretty much all the same, but the man knows chemistry. I like to write more than I like to read but I like John Steinbach. I've also seen a lot of old TV shows like _Gilligan's Island, Dallas, and The Bionic Woman, _though the remake was a huge mistake. As for what I watch now there's _Heroes, The Office_ and _Glee._ So that's about all there is to know about me. If there's anything else, you can just ask."

"Okay that is a lot of information." She commented as she began to help me. "So are you going to eat this garlic bread, because I won't if you don't?"

"I don't mind a little bit of garlic breath." I stated.

"Fuck." She cursed as I realized that she had cut herself.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I just shouldn't cook." Elena stated before she went to the sink and began to wash it off. I put my hand in the blood and felt my fangs growing once again and the veins forming under my eyes as they turned red. "Your face."

I looked away as she came closer to me.

"Brandy, look at me." She ordered. I took a deep breath and felt it return to normal before I looked at her and she blinked. "Okay, I must be going crazy. My paranoia has turned into full-blown hallucinations. Either that or it's from the blood loss.

"You don't get to hold the knife anymore." I told her with a laugh. "Leave the cooking to the experienced chef."

"You're not experienced." She pointed out also laughing.

The dinner ended up being a good time and I could tell that I had made some progress. I even got her to let Stefan come over so he could tell her about Katherine and whatever else he needed to.

I started to talk with Rachel as we got ready for bed.

"So do you think that you made things better?" She asked.

"Yeah, I do and I think I helped Stefan out as well." I answered. "More importantly, I think Elena trusts us now and she'll stop asking questions so certain secrets can stay secrets."

"You know would it really be that bad if we just told her the truth about what we are?" Rachel mused.

"I don't even know how to go about doing that." I pointed out. "I mean by definition we are monsters."

"Yeah, but you're not a monster." Rachel argued. "Neither of us has ever killed someone for the purpose of drinking their blood."

"I still don't think it's a good idea." I admitted. "Maybe I can ease her into it, but I probably shouldn't just tell her that I'm a vampire, especially since I just got her to trust me again."

"So have you picked out the bikini you're going to wear to the car wash tomorrow?" She asked.

"Yes." I answered. "Remember how bikinis were in the 60s?"

"The people who objected to them then would probably freak out if they saw what we were wearing today." She replied.

In the morning, I was wearing a black bikini with pink straps and multiple neon shapes on it and jeans shorts that left unbuttoned. I decided to go down and see Damon once again. He looked a lot weaker than the day before. It probably wouldn't take much longer for him to start to desiccate.

"I bet you feel great right now." He stated. "Elena's going to find out and then what will you do?"

"You know what's nice about you being locked up in there?" I asked. "I can leave and not have to listen to you anymore."

I then went upstairs to see Rachel who was wearing a black polka-dot bikini.

"What's with the shorts?" She asked.

"I was going to wear them on the way there." I explained.

"But you're going to be driving." She pointed out.

"You know what? I don't want to fight about this." I declared as I slipped my shorts off to reveal a matching bikini bottom. "Now let's go."

We headed to the school and I couldn't help but notice that all of the other girls were wearing shorts or skirts.

"Wow, you two went all out." Caroline commented.

"Isn't the point of a bikini carwash to wear bikinis?" Rachel asked.

"Well I can't make the girls take their shorts off because they may have body issues." Caroline stated. "So anyway, Brandy, you're with Tyler."

"You can't be serious." I replied in disbelief.

"I am totally serious." She declared. "Now get to work."

I sighed and headed over to Tyler. I couldn't help but wonder if she was doing it just to torture me for missing a week of practice.

"You look good." He commented.

"Don't talk to me." I declared as I grabbed a sponge and began to clean a car.

"You know I've never noticed before…" He started.

"If this is my breasts or butt, I will slap you." I warned him.

"It's about your finger actually." He stated. "I never noticed that ring on your finger. It looks like it's gonna rust. Maybe you should take it off."

"It's waterproof because I don't like to take it off." I explained. "Now we have work to do."

"I cannot believe that you still hate me." He remarked.

"You're not exactly a likable person." I pointed out put hand out to the side. I then realized that I had accidentally thrown my sponge. I sighed because I knew what I had to do to retrieve it. As I bent down, I heard a number of wolf whistles. Surprisingly none of them came from Tyler.

A little later, I smelled smoke and realized that a fire had broken out and realized that it was a fire, but Bonnie seemed to be causing it. She had a blank stare on her face. I went over to her and shook her, which caused the fire to go out.

"Bonnie?" I questioned.

"What happened?" She replied.

"You were in some kind of trance." I explained. She looked around in confusion.

"Did I do this?" She asked.

"I think so." I declared.

"Did anyone else see it?" She responded. I was pretty sure that Stefan had.

"No." I lied.

"Don't tell anyone. I need to go." She stated before she ran off. She was still really bad at excuses.

"What was that about?" Tyler asked me. I honestly had no idea what to say. I did notice that both Caroline and Elena seemed to be gone.

"I don't know." I replied. I then remembered something. "Just forget that you saw anything."

I decided by that time that it was a good idea to go home. I grabbed Rachel who was being kissing some guy and took her with me. As soon as we got there, we noticed that there was a dead bird on the floor. It looked a lot like the bird that followed Damon around. As a matter of fact, it was the bird. I noticed that Stefan was already there.

"We have a problem." He declared as he held Zach's body. "It's time to end this."

I decided it would be a good idea to get dressed and put on a sleeveless white blouse tied at the ends and black shorts. I noticed Stefan had a stake in his hand. I grew my fangs out as the anger flowed through my body. That was when the door opened and there was Elena.

"What are you?" She asked.

So Elena found out about Stefan and Brandy. You probably shouldn't expect to see Tyler in the next chapter. Please don't forget to review.


	7. Lost Girls

I decided it would be a good idea to get dressed and put on a sleeveless white blouse tied at the ends and black shorts. I noticed Stefan had a stake in his hand. I grew my fangs out as the anger flowed through my body. That was when the door opened and there was Elena.

1965

Rachel and I made our way to the shore. I knew that we needed to find somewhere for her to get some blood.

"So how do you feel?" I asked.

"My teeth hurt." She admitted. "I feel so hungry and I have a lot of energy."

"Well, we'll get you some blood and things will be all better." I explained. "You're going to be okay."

Present

"What are you?" She asked. I froze there and my mouth wouldn't work. "What are you?"

"You know." Stefan declared. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be here."

"No, it's not possible." Elena denied.

"Everything you know, everything that you've been taught is about to change." Stefan explained.

"What are you?" Elena repeated.

"We're vampires." I said after finally finding my voice.

"I shouldn't have come." She replied as she headed out the door.

Both of us then ran outside and I stopped her at her car.

"How did you do that?" She asked in surprise.

"Elena, you can't be afraid of us. We're not going to hurt you." I explained as I held onto her tightly. She elbowed me in the stomach and I lost my grip, at which point she got in her car and drove off. We needed to fix it immediately.

"What's going on? I heard screaming." Rachel declared as she came down in a bathrobe.

"Well for one Damon's on the loose and also Elena knows Stefan and I are vampires." I explained. "You go look for him and we'll go deal with Elena."

Stefan and began to ran and headed in through Elena's open window. We got there before her which wasn't that much a shock. I hadn't actually been in her room before. It looked nice. She had a teddy bear on her bed. It looked a lot like you would expect a teenage girl's room to look like. It was very her. We didn't have a lot of time to take everything in because Elena was soon in her room. She looked at us in surprise before she tried to leave, but I stood in the way of her door.

"Elena, please just let us talk to you." I begged. "We're not going to hurt you. You're safe with us."

"What about those animal attacks?" She questioned. I had a feeling that she would bring that part up. "Did you two kill those people?"

"No, those were Damon." Stefan explained. "I don't drink human blood and Brandy and Rachel don't kill people."

"Damon, and Rachel's a vampire too?" She asked in surprise. I could tell that she was definitely in shock at the moment. I didn't blame her. I didn't take too well to finding out about vampires either.

"You can't tell anyone about this." I declared.

"Why not?" She responded.

"Because knowing this is dangerous!" Stefan remarked. "You can hate us, but I need you to trust us."

"Just go away." Elena begged through her tears. "If you mean me no harm, you'll both leave me alone."

"I never wanted it to be this way." Stefan replied before he kissed her forehead and both of us went out the window, which was promptly followed by her closing it.

As soon as we were on the ground, my phone started to ring. It was from an unknown number, but I answered it anyway.

"Who is this?" I asked.

"It's not Ghostface." Damon replied. "Where is my ring?"

"Where are you?" I replied.

"I'm at the sizzler. I just had the all-you-can-eat druggie buffet." He stated. I had no idea where that was because I didn't know anything about anywhere druggies hung out.

"What have you done?" Stefan asked.

"No what you done?" He replied. "You two starved me and now whatever I do, whoever I kill is on you."

"Do you really think that anyone will believe another animal attack?" I questioned.

"I know how to cover my tracks." He replied as I heard a fire cracking. "Now where is my ring?"

"I gave it to Zach to hide." I lied. I hoped he would buy it.

"Where is it?" He repeated.

"We can get it." I declared.

"Well hurry up or my next stop is Elena." He remarked.

"We already want you dead, don't make us angrier." I warned him.

"I can take both of you." He boasted.

"Then how will you get your ring back?" I asked.

"Just get it." He demanded before hanging up. I was at least glad I had messed him up a little. I then texted Rachel to come over to the house.

She came over wearing a white full-length dress and blue silk cardigan.

"So we need to stay all night and guard the house in case Damon decides to show up." I stated. I then realized that it might have been a good idea for her to bring some weapons with.

In the morning, we were still awake. I wasn't extremely tired.

"Got any threes?" I asked.

I then noticed that my phone was ringing again and this time it was Elena. The three of us scattered down the street before I answered.

"Hey." I greeted her.

"I need you and Stefan to meet me at the Grill in half an hour." She replied before hanging up.

In half an hour, the four of us were all at a table. She seemed to be a little surprised that we brought Rachel, but also not surprised.

"Thanks for meeting me." She stated.

"We'll tell you anything that you want to know." I promised.

"Well when you google vampire, you get thousands of results. I want to know what's real and what's not." She remarked.

"Okay." Rachel agreed.

"Well I know that you can eat garlic and somehow you're out in the sunlight without any issues." Elena stated.

"We have rings." I replied as I showed off the stones.

"What about holy water, crosses and mirrors?" She inquired.

"Warm, two pieces of wood and how I maintain my appearance." I answered.

"You said that you don't drink human blood." Elena declared.

"No, I don't drink human blood. Brandy and Rachel prefer blood bags." Stefan corrected. I was pretty sure I couldn't drink animal blood. "Animal blood keeps me fed, but not as strong as Damon."

"Why did you let him get involved with Caroline?" She asked angrily.

"We didn't let him do anything." Rachel argued. "He was already with her before we knew about it."

"He was hurting her!" Elena pointed out.

"No, he was feeding on her." Stefan corrected. "He was drinking her blood and erasing her memory through a form of mind compulsion. If he wanted to kill her, he would have."

"That doesn't make it okay." Elena stated.

"We know that it's not okay." I replied.

"How about you give us today and then after that if you still want to tell people, you can." Stefan bargained. It hoped it meant Rachel and I wouldn't have to move.

"Okay." Elena agreed.

We then all got in Elena's car and Stefan instructed her to drive somewhere. I wasn't quite sure where we were going.

"Stop here." He instructed as I noticed some old ruins.

"Where are we?" Elena asked after we got out of the car.

"This is where I grew up." Stefan replied. I had heard there was an old Salvatore house, but I'd never seen it.

"It looks so…" Elena responded as she looked around.

"Old? That's because it is." Stefan replied.

"How old are you?" Elena asked him.

"I've been 17 since 1864." Stefan answered. That would make him 161 or 162.

"What about you two?" Elena questioned.

"I was turned in 1964 and she was in 65." I explained. "Damon turned me and I turned her."

"50 years before the boarding house was built, this was my home." Stefan continued. "Damon and I were both born here. You may not think it now, but he used to be my best friend."

He then told us a story of how he and Damon were playing football before Katherine showed up.

1965

The two of us arrived at the hospital. I was able to compel my way past security and looked for someone who seemed healthy.

"Don't scream." I compelled before I bit into his neck. "Now it's your turn."

She began to drink before I noticed that she was taking too much and pulled her away.

"Ah, ah, it hurts." She cried as her fangs began to grow. I then realized that the sun appeared to be coming up.

"So it looks you have to stay here." I remarked. I thought about going to the apartment and getting the ring, but I decided that it would be a bad idea to leave her alone with so many bleeding people.

Present

"You knew Katherine in 1864?" Elena asked in surprise. "Damon made it sound so recent."

"That's because Damon wanted you to think that he wasn't over her." I pointed out.

"And he did this all because you loved the same woman 145 years ago?" She questioned.

"She wasn't just any woman." Stefan countered.

He then told how she was a vampire and how she had compelled him not to tell anyone about it. She was basically forcing him to date her.

At that point, Stefan bent down and grabbed the ring off of the ground. I wondered where he had hidden it.

"So it looks like Damon and I are stuck with each other." He commented. Did that mean that we weren't going to kill him anymore?

"Is that Damon's ring?" Elena asked before he nodded.

"I took it from him and now I have to give it back." Stefan replied as he cleaned it off.

"No you don't." Elena argued.

"Elena, if we don't give it back, he said that he will hurt and/or kill you." I explained.

1965

Rachel and I waited in the hospital. I managed to get her checked into a room and told everyone that I was her sister. She was currently in a gown as we watched some TV. There was a soap opera on. I wasn't even sure which one it was. I was pretty sure that no one expected that the same shows would be on 45 years later.

"I'm so hungry." She remarked.

"Well you can't give into the thirst." I pointed out. "Remember what you told me. We need to make sure that people don't find out about us."

"I can't use my powers anymore." She stated as a tear came to her eye.

"I know but it's going to be okay." I promised her. "I'll be here for you. I've been through what you're going through now."

"I wonder if we'll be able to keep the shop open." She mused.

"We'll figure that out later." I declared. "So I'm really starting to like the Beatles now."

"Well the music's getting better and you would probably like them even if you weren't a woman." She remarked.

"Is it weird that I'm turned on by British accents?" I asked her.

"If you want to try to have sex, you should." She replied.

Present

We then headed back to Elena's car. However, she stopped before she got inside.

"I have to know something." She stated. "That mind control thing, did any of you ever do that to me?"

"No." Stefan replied. "In fact that necklace of yours contains an herb called vervain. I wanted to protect you from Damon, but I also wanted to protect you from myself. This way whatever you decide, whether you want to tell or not, you'll know that it was your choice and not anyone else's."

We then got into her car and headed back to her house. I couldn't help but notice that there was a truck in front of the house. Had Jeremy invited someone over?

We walked inside and that was where we saw Jeremy, Matt, and Vicki in the kitchen. The kitchen was…well it looked like a tornado had been through it. There was several plates out that had been partially touched. I noticed that Vicki didn't seem to look quite right either I had seen that face before. It was the same face that Rachel made when she woke up in the water. Her heart also wasn't beating.

"What's going on?" Stefan asked.

"She's really messed up." Matt answered.

"Everybody back up." Stefan instructed as he examined Vicki. "You're going to be fine."

I could see that everyone else looked confused by the situation.

"Guys take her upstairs and get her away from the light." He told them. Matt and Jeremy decided to listen and headed up the stairs.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Elena asked.

"She's in transition." I answered.

"What does that mean?" The teenager asked.

"It means that she's in the process of becoming a vampire." I answered. "Damon must have found her and gave her some blood. You drink vampire blood and then die with it in your system and then you drink human blood. I know that she hasn't done that yet because she wouldn't be able to walk in the sun if she had."

"What will happen if she doesn't drink human blood?" Elena questioned.

"She'll die." Stefan replied. "She doesn't seem to know what's going yet, but once she does, she will know that she has to make the choice."

"Is that the same choice that you made?" She asked him spitefully.

"Elena, not a lot of people can choose death over life." I pointed out. "Of course I didn't even know that I would become a vampire. I just knew that I would have to drink blood or I would die."

"She's up there with my brother right now." Elena stated. "I don't want her up there right now."

Suddenly, Vicki ran down the stairs and out the door.

"She was fine and then she just freaked out." Jeremy said once we were all outside.

"I'm gonna go look for her." Matt declared as he headed to his truck. "Let me know if you find her."

"We can track her." Stefan told Elena. I didn't like how he just volunteered us.

"Go then." She instructed.

We decided to split up. I put Damon's ring on my finger for safe keeping. I began to go through the woods. I wasn't sure if she would be there. I didn't know how to track her. I walked deeper into the woods and I heard crying and that was when I figured out that I had found her. I ran over to her and found her sitting against a tree with tears in her eyes.

"I'm starting to remember things." She replied. "You were on the rooftop with me. "He attacked me and then he killed my friends and kidnapped me and killed me. He said that I had to feed on human blood. What will happen if I don't?"

I wasn't exactly sure how to tell her. Just knew that I would have to find some way to get her some blood.

"I wanna go home." She added. "Can you take me home?"

"Yes, I can take you home." I promised as I walked closer to her. Suddenly, I heard a gunshot and noticed that I was in a lot of pain. It was like was a wooden bullet inside of my chest. I fell to the ground and that was when I noticed the local reporter was walking my way with a stake. I needed to move. I had to get up. I had just made it to my feet when Damon suddenly appeared and bit his neck, feeding until he was dead. He then reached into my breast and pulled a wooden pellet out. I wished at that I had had a jacket.

"It's wood. They know." He declared. I didn't know who they were. "Now give me my ring."

"Give me your jacket." I bargained as I took it off my hand. We made the exchange and then I heard a slurping sound and realized that Vicki was drinking his blood.

"I'm sorry." She declared before she ran off. Damon decided to do the same thing. I heard footsteps and headed to the edge of the woods.

"Where did you get that jacket?" Rachel asked me.

"Damon gave it to me after someone shot me with a wooden bullet." I explained. "So I found Vicki, but not only has she transitioned, but I also lost her again."

"Well we should go tell Elena." Stefan suggested. "Rachel, you keep looking for her."

1965

The two of us finally made it out of the hospital after dark. We headed back to the apartment. It was a good thing that no one living owned the place because other she wouldn't be able to get in.

"So now we start the rest of our lives." I told her as I gave her the ring.

Present

Stefan and headed back to the Gilbert house where Elena was waiting outside. She saw the jacket and looked at me in concern.

"Did something happen?" She asked.

"I'm fine. It's healed." I explained. "But we have bad news. Vicki's a vampire now."

"We can find her and teach her not to be a monster." Stefan suggested.

"What am I going to tell Jeremy or Matt?" Elena questioned.

"We'll come with something." I stated.

"You mean we'll come up with a lie." She corrected. "Look I gave you today and I won't tell anyone your secret, but I can't be with you, Stefan."

"What about me?" I asked.

"I'm not going to stop being friends with you, Brandy." She stated. "But you do need to get Vicki under control."

"Okay." I replied before the two of us headed off into the night.

So no Tyler in this chapter. We also got to see some flashbacks involving Brandy and Rachel. At least she's still friends with Elena. Please don't forget to review.


	8. Haunted

I met up with Stefan and Damon to go looking for Vicki. We eventually found her in the school parking lot. It was dark out and she was trying to feed on Tyler. Stefan had to hold her back as she writhed in his arms.

"What's wrong with her, Brandy?" He asked. I knew that we would have to compel him, but I felt a little bad about it. I was pretty sure that I was starting to like him as a friend. I didn't like him romantically, that was for sure.

"You don't get to talk." Damon told him.

"Fuck you, Dude." Tyler retorted. I wished that he hadn't done that.

"Dude? Fuck me?" Damon responded as Tyler tried to punch him, but Damon picked him by his shirt.

"Damon, don't." I commanded.

"Who's going to miss this idiot?" Damon challenged. I wasn't going to say that I would.

"He's the mayor's son." I pointed out. By that point, Stefan had run off with Vicki. "You can't kill him."

"Fine." Damon relented. "_None of us were here." _

Damon then threw him across the parking lot. I knew that he would be fine. He would probably just feel sore in the morning. The two of us then headed off to the house. Stefan had already gotten her inside.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do with her?" Rachel asked me once we got to our room.

"I'm not entirely sure." I admitted. "I just know that Stefan wanted to keep her here until she's no longer a danger to everyone around her. We also have to deal with the fact that she can't go to school anymore because she can't go out in the sun."

"So we're basically going to be babysitting her." Rachel summarized. "I really didn't come here to take care of a baby vampire."

"Well we don't really have much of a choice." I pointed out. "We should get some sleep because I have a feeling that we'll be waking up early in the morning."

We each got dressed for bed. I wore a black tank top with 'Sorry I'm Not Sorry' in pink letters and matching shorts and Rachel wore a black babydoll.

"I really hope that she doesn't go through all of the blood bags." Rachel remarked.

"Stefan said that he wants to get her on animal blood." I explained. "I don't know how because I don't trust her to come back here if she goes out.

In the morning, I put on a turquoise tank with leather jacket and black jeans while Rachel wore a black blazer and white tank with blue jeans.

Once we got downstairs, the first thing that we did was have Vicki call home to let Matt know that she was okay.

"I don't understand why I have to be here. I wanna go home." Vicki whined.

"Well you can't." I pointed out. "Even if we would let you, you can't go out in the sun."

I couldn't wonder if it would be a good excuse to say that she was checked into rehab. Her drug use was extremely well documented after all. The whole school knew.

"You're also changing and you don't want to do that alone." Stefan added. Damon was currently reading the paper.

"There's nothing in here about that Logan guy that I killed." He commented. "I think someone's covering it up."

"Haven't they been covering up all of your murders?" I questioned.

"Yes, but now we know that someone's covering them up because they clearly know about vampires." Damon pointed out as he fiddled with the compass that Logan was holding.

"What's that?" Vicki asked him.

"It's a very old compass that points to vampires. Why did Logan Fell have it?" He mused.

"If you're so worried, why don't you just leave town?" Stefan suggested.

"We should all be worried, Stefan." Damon remarked.

"Hey, I'm hungry. Do you have anything for me to eat?" Vicki asked. Stefan gave her a cup of blood. It smelled awful. "What's this?"

"It's what you're craving." Stefan answered. That was only half true.

"Don't lie to the girl. It's so not what she's craving." Damon remarked. Maybe she wouldn't hate it.

"What is it?" Vicki inquired.

"Yeah, what is it, Stefan?" Damon repeated. "Is it from a deer, skunk, St. Bernard?"

He didn't actually drink dog blood, did he?

"She needs people blood." Damon pointed out.

"Yeah, why can't I have people blood?" Vicki asked. Because there wasn't enough for her.

"Because it's wrong to kill people to drink their blood." Stefan replied. I was pretty sure that I would have preferred to be at school.

"You have to kill to survive. Just snatch, eat, erase." Damon instructed.

"There's guarantee that you'll be able to resist the blood." Stefan said. "You could kill someone and you'd have to live with that for the rest of your life."

"Don't listen to him. His moral plane is way too high." Damon responded. I couldn't help but wonder if they were confusing her.

"Vicki, what we're trying to teach you is control." I explained.

"Okay, have fun with the Goody Two Shoes Patrol." Damon replied before he went downstairs.

"Do you any more?" Vicki asked as she licked her lips.

I then heard that Damon was talking to Elena downstairs and realized that I should probably intervene, even though he was already gone by the time I got down.

"Brandy?" She asked.

"I'm here." I remarked.

"Where is Vicki?" She questioned.

"She's upstairs." I replied.

"Well what are we going to do about this because I am lying to my brother and everyone I care about?" She asked me.

"We're working on it." I explained. "All I know is that we need to keep her here until she's ready for the outside world."

"How long is that?" Vicki asked from the top of the stairs.

"We'll talk about it later." I responded. Honestly I felt like I was talking to child. Well technically, I was old enough to be her grandmother.

"Hey, Vicki, how are you?" Elena asked. She shouldn't have done that.

"I'm fucking peachy." Vicki responded. That was why.

From there, Elena and I went upstairs where Stefan and Rachel were. Stefan was giving her some kind of speech about coffee. Coffee was okay for controlling cravings, but what really helped was alcohol, but I supposed it wouldn't be a good idea to give someone like her alcohol. I could tell from what was happening that Stefan probably wouldn't have much time for Elena even if they were still together.

"What if I want to drink human blood?" Vicki asked.

"You're just going to have to live with that urge and fight it one day at a time." He replied.

"Ugh, don't get me started with that whole 12 Steps crap. School counselor's already been done that road. It doesn't work for me." She responded.

"It can work." Stefan argued.

"So you've never had human blood?" She asked. He hadn't as long as I had been here.

"It's been a long time." Stefan declared.

"How long?" She persisted.

"That's none of your damn business." I snapped. It actually might have been. For all I knew, getting to know him might help her.

"Does this sketchy feeling ever go away?" Vicki asked as she stood up. "It's like I have a massive hangover and this no going in the sun thing is a bitch. I need more blood. I have to pee. Why do I have to pee? I thought I was dead."

I directed her to the bathroom and she walked off.

"I'm gonna go get her some more blood." Stefan replied. I couldn't help but wonder where he was getting it from. Did he have a deer carcass on the wall or something?

Not long after, Vicki came back.

"False alarm, it's like my body is really fucked up right now, but it's a good type of fucked." Vicki explained as she took her phone out.

"Who are you texting?" Rachel asked.

"Jeremy." Vicki answered nonchalantly.

"Vicki you can't see Jeremy." Elena stated.

"Don't start with me. I'm gonna see whoever I wanna see." Vicki argued.

"You could hurt him." Elena remarked.

"I would never hurt Jeremy." She declared.

"You can say that but I can't take that risk." Elena responded. "You are going to have to let Jeremy go."

"Or what?" Vicki responded before she threw Elena against the wall.

"Let's get this straight. You had my brother whipped for 15 years. 15 years and then you dumped him. When I look at you, that's all I see…"

"Shut up." Rachel declared after tackling Vicki to the ground. "I've sat and listened to you complaining for the past hour and I'm not going to take it anymore."

I decided that it would be a good idea to take Elena outside. She massaged her neck slowly.

"How long is she going to be like that?" She asked as she took a deep breath.

"I don't know." I admitted.

"Well how long did it take you?" She inquired.

"Not long, but Vicki and I are different people." I pointed out. "I do know that she definitely shouldn't see Jeremy right now because being around certain people causes all of your feelings to blur into hunger. It happened with Rachel's boyfriend. She bit him and I hadn't been there, he would probably be dead instead of some kid's grandpa right now."

"Well I need to go home." She stated. "I'm sorry, Brandy but there's only so much that I can take."

I then headed back inside and I realized that there really wasn't much reason to scold Vicki because I imagined Rachel and Stefan had already given her a tongue-lashing. I went up to our room and I remembered what day it was: Halloween. I was glad that I had a costume, even though I wasn't sure if I would get the chance to wear it.

After a nap, I went downstairs to see that it was dark and Damon was trying to take Vicki outside, but Stefan was against it. I then decided to give my input into the situation.

"There probably isn't any harm in taking out to the front yard." I stated. "We can watch her."

We took her outside and it seemed to be going well until Damon showed her how to use super speed and she ran off.

"Oops." He declared.

"You're an idiot." I remarked before Stefan went to find her. I decided that he could probably find her on his own and headed inside. I wanted to put my costume on. It was a black gothic dress with fishnets and black wedge sneakers. I was a goth in the 80s back when it was cool to be Gothic. It had to do with bands like The Cure, Depeche Mode and Soft Cell.

I saw Rachel in her bee dress as Stefan came into the house.

"Did you find her?" I questioned. I assumed not since he was alone.

"She went home, but Matt wouldn't invite me in." He stated. "I'm not entirely sure what to do."

"Well there's this Halloween party at the school tonight." Rachel stated. "Maybe she'll be there. Not to mention Brandy and I got all dressed up and it would be a good opportunity for us to show off our costumes."

"Well finding Vicki is of a greater importance than celebrating." He remarked. "We need to get her back here before she starts feeding on innocent people."

I couldn't help but wonder how we were going to do that. How could we really keep her from Matt? I didn't think it would be a good idea to tell him that his sister was a vampire. For one, I was pretty sure that he wouldn't believe it. I just wondered what would happen if she went back home with him and was still there in the morning. He would notice something was up when she didn't want to go out during the daytime.

Before we left, I happened to come across Damon. He was either not in a costume or dressed as Danny Zuko from _Grease_. There really wasn't that much of a difference between the two of them.

"So where are you going?" I asked.

"I have things to do tonight." He replied.

"Can you please not kill anyone?" I requested.

"I make no promises." He stated. If I had to guess, I didn't think he would since he knew that someone was onto us these days and he probably wasn't _that_ stupid.

We then headed to the school. I began to search the crowd. I wasn't sure where to look for her or if she would even be here. Stefan had the idea for us to split up once again. You know we was starting to remind me of Fred Jones, though he was actually useful.

"Is everyone dressed as a witch tonight?" I heard Tyler ask from behind me. I turned around to see dressed as one of the Spartans from _300_ and damn, he was ripped. I had never seen him without a shirt before and he was hot. If he wasn't such an ass, I might have been attracted to him.

"I'm not a witch. I'm a goth." I explained. "So I see that you didn't decide to skimp on your costume or maybe you did."

"So can I interest you in some cider? It's a Lockwood special." He stated.

"Why do I have a hunch that it has lots of alcohol in it?" I quipped. "I really can't right now. I was actually looking for someone. Have you seen Vicki at all?"

"Yeah, she's dressed as a vampire." He answered. "But why are you looking for her?"

"I can't go into that right now." I said before I walked into the school.

I ended up finding Vicki with Stefan and Elena, who was dressed as a nurse. Vicki was definitely dressed as a vampire in an extremely stereotypical manner. It would be like if a black man came dressed with gold teeth, baggy pants and a gold chain around his neck.

"What's going on?" Matt asked. He was dressed as a doctor or maybe a male nurse.

"I told you to quit bothering me." Vicki declared as she broke free of Stefan's grasp. "Matty, he won't leave me alone."

"Vicki, don't do this." Elena remarked.

"You need to quit bothering her." Matt stated. At that moment, I noticed that Vicki had run off.

"Guys, Vicki ran away." I replied. Elena began to chase after her and I started to chase after Elena. I was a little bit behind. I decided to use my advanced hearing to see if I could find her. I heard something coming from outside and it sounded like Jeremy was screaming. I figured that the he had found out about the vampire part. I rushed outside to see that she was attacking Elena.

I pushed her against one of the buses. She obviously seemed feral to me. I had never seen a feral vampire before. She managed to push me away and got out of my sight. That wasn't good.

"Get inside now!" I ordered them.

They headed to the door, but before they got there, Vicki sunk her teeth into Elena's neck. I had to act fast. I took a piece of wood that was lying around and stabbed her through the heart with it.

"VICKI, NO!" Jeremy screamed as she began to turn grey and veiny and he started to cry some more. "No you can't be dead."

It was at that moment that Stefan arrived.

"Get him out of here." Elena ordered. I looked at Stefan and he began to take Jeremy home.

"I should probably go find Rachel." I said. I began to text Damon, telling him to come over. I looked at Elena. "Can you stay here for a little while?"

I went inside the school and didn't find her, but then I found her standing outside by the punchbowl talking to Bonnie.

"Rachel, we need to go now." I explained as I pulled her away.

"What's going on?" She asked once we were off campus.

"I killed Vicki." I explained. She gasped. "I didn't really have a choice. She was going to kill Elena if I didn't stake her when I did. Jeremy saw the whole thing."

"So, what are we going to do about him?" She questioned.

"I don't know. Let's just go to Elena's house to check up on him." I replied.

"I can't believe that she died at only 18." Rachel commented. "Maybe she never would have survived as a vampire, but it's still pretty sad to her life was cut short."

We arrived at the Gilbert house to see that Elena and Stefan were outside.

"Can you make him forget?" She asked him.

"Elena, I don't know if I'm strong enough for that. Because of my diet, I don't know if it will stick." Stefan explained.

"I can do it." I stated. "But before I do, are you sure that this is absolutely what you want?"

"I don't think Jeremy can make it through this." She replied. "Please."

"Okay, what do you want me to tell him?" I questioned.

"Vicki told him that she was leaving town and he's not going to look for her because he thinks that she needs to get better." She explained.

"Okay." I replied. I entered the house and headed up to Jeremy's room. He was crying on the bed. I noticed something on the floor. It was a test with a big F on it. "Hi, Jeremy."

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"We need to talk." I stated. "_What you saw with Vicki tonight didn't happen. The only thing that you remember about her was her telling you that she was leaving town, but you're not going to look for her because you know that she needs to focus on getting better. Also you're going to start to do better in school and stop doing drugs." _

I then walked out of the room and saw Damon was down there. He looked like he was showing the tiniest bit of remorse, so little that it could probably only be picked up by closely examining his face. It made me think that maybe he wasn't the monster that he made himself out to be.

So Brandy ended up being the one to kill Vicki and she also compelled Jeremy to forget and she's finally seeing through Damon's facade. Please don't forget to review.


	9. 162 Candles

I was awoken in the middle of the night by a sound. I shook Rachel awake.

"What?" She asked.

"There's someone in the house." I declared. "It could be a vampire since anyone can enter now that Zach's dead."

"Go check it out then. I wanna sleep." She declared. I signed and walked downstairs in my pajamas. I heard a noise and headed toward it, tackling a blonde vampire off of Stefan. She growled at me.

"Brandy, this is my friend Lexi." Stefan introduced.

"You didn't tell me that you had any friends." I remarked as Lexi got up off of the floor.

"It's okay. He didn't tell me he had a girlfriend." Lexi stated.

"Ew, I'm not his girlfriend." I declared. "I'm his descendant. My name is Brenda Salvatore, but you can call me Brandy."

I wasn't sure if I trusted her enough to tell her everything about me yet. I would probably wait until later to do it.

"Alexia Branson, but you call me Lexi." She said as she shook my hand.

"Now I would love to get to know you better, but I was busy sleeping." I explained. "So if you could keep it down so I can do that, I would appreciate it."

In the morning, I had to wake up early because I was being called in for questioning. At this point, Vicki had been missing for a few days. I also found out that it was Stefan's birthday and I had no idea what to get him. Maybe I could get him a sweater or something.

Once I got to the police station, I was wearing a blue plaid shirt over a black lace cami and jeans with black sneakers. Stefan, Elena, Matt, and Jeremy were also all there. Being there made me feel bad.

"I don't know where Vicki is." I explained. "I was just helping Stefan help her."

"What were you doing?" The sheriff questioned.

"We were trying to help her get over her drug problem, but she ran off and that was the last that I saw her."

"Okay, I'm sorry to bother you this early in the morning." She declared. "If you find anything out about her, let us know."

"Okay." I agreed. I then stepped out of the room and then walked out of the stage where I saw Stefan trying, and failing, to talk to Matt. It was too bad that we couldn't tell him what really happened, but I doubted that he wanted to know that his sister was dead.

At that point, Elena, Jeremy, and Jenna stepped out.

"I'll meet you guys at the car." Elena told them. They headed to their vehicle and Elena came over to us.

"Well it worked. Jeremy doesn't remember anything." She confirmed. I knew that it would.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Stefan asked.

"I can't do this, Stefan." She replied. "Every time I look at Matt or Jeremy, I keep thinking about how Vicki's never gonna come home and they're never gonna know why. I'm sorry."

With that, Stefan began to walk home. Elena was about to head to the car when I grabbed her arm.

"Do you wanna come shopping with me?" I asked. "It would be great for taking your mind off of all of this."

"I really just wanna go home." She admitted.

"Okay." I agreed as I let her go. I then headed out to my car and drove to a boutique. I ended up buying a few things for myself, but I made sure to get Stefan a nice sweater to wear. I hoped he would like it. I really didn't know what else to get him.

Once I got back, I noticed that Rachel and Lexi had gotten to know each other. The first thing that I did was take the sweater out of the bag.

"Happy Birthday." I said as I handed it to Stefan.

"You know you didn't have to get me anything." He declared.

"So, Brandy you missed it." Rachel declared. "I knew that I had seen Lexi somewhere and it turned out that she was my first customer when I opened the shop in 63. Isn't that crazy?"

"Well, it's certainly different." I commented as I went to put the clothes in our room and headed back downstairs.

"So Brandy, do you like Bon Jovi?" Lexi asked.

"Yeah, they're okay." I responded.

"Well I'm trying to convince Stefan to go see them at Madison Square Garden with me tomorrow night." She explainned.

"That's not going to happen." I explained. "Stefan would never leave town while Elena's still here."

"I do not see what's so great about this girl." Lexi replied. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she dump you? Let's just hope that she's different from the last girl that you got all sprung over."

She then began to wag the picture of Katherine all around

"You didn't even know Katherine." Stefan replied as he took the picture from her and put it on the table.

"Because if I did, I would so kick her ass." Lexi boasted. I was pretty sure that she didn't have an ass left to kick. Being burned alive did sound like a terrible way to go, even for someone as terrible as Katherine.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"I am 350 years old as of last Tuesday." She replied confidently. "How about you?"

"65." I declared. "Do I make you feel old?"

"Nope." She replied. "Now we need to find out what we're doing for Stefan's birthday if we're not leaving town."

"Funny you should ask that." Damon interrupted. I looked to see him standing in the doorway.

"No one asked you." Lexi remarked. So it seemed that those definitely knew each other and also didn't like each other. I could not help but wonder what had happened between them to make them hate each other so much.

"There's a party tonight at the Grill. It will have everything, booze, dancing, all of Stefan's friends." He explained.

"I don't want a birthday party." Stefan declared.

"Well it's not for you." Damon replied. "No one's gonna know it's your birthday. Caroline's throwing it."

"Damon, you need to stay away from Caroline." I told him in exasperation.

"We're friends. It's cool." He remarked. "I think it's good for the town to see us out and about like normal folk."

"What are you up to?" Stefan asked.

"I prefer mine at 98.6." Damon declared. It was then that I smelled something coming from Lexi's bag and I felt my fangs out grow out in hunger.

"Yes, you can have some if you want." Lexi offered as she opened up her suitcase to show about six bags of blood and handed one to me. I took a sip from it and realized that Stefan was staring. "Relax. I didn't kill anyone for it. This lobotomist that I went out with a few times hooked me up. Don't judge me. I tried the animal diet and held out for as long as I could, which was two weeks."

"I would never judge you Lexi." Stefan stated. I couldn't help but think that their friendship was sweet. "It's just that if I started again…"

"You don't think that you could stop." Lexi finished. I have to say that I admire your restraint. I have none. I delight in hedonism."

I then decided that the blood would taste better out of a glass and headed to the kitchen. I noticed that Damon was in there. I didn't say anything and first took out a glass and emptied my bag into it.

"So what are you planning?" I asked him.

"Why would I tell you anything?" He countered. I thought I was beginning to break through his barriers.

"Because you can trust me." I declared. "I saw you packing up some vervain last night. What did you do with it?"

"I was just getting rid of it so it couldn't be used against me." He remarked.

"We're not going to try that again and there's also still some down there." I pointed out. "Tell me the truth."

"Why do you think you can handle the truth?" He asked.

"Damon, whether you like it or not, we're family." I remind him. "I don't understand why you have to be so secretive about everything. Just tell me what you're planning."

"If I tell you, you'll just tell Stefan." He pointed out.

"What if I didn't?" I questioned. "I promise I won't tell Stefan if you tell me what you did with the vervain.

At that time, Damon took me upstairs to his room and closed the door.

"I gave the vervain to the Founder's Council." He replied.

"Why would you do that?" I questioned. "They could kill us with it."

"I gave it to them so they wouldn't suspect of us of anything." He explained. "It turns out that no one knew what Logan knew and Zach had already supplied the council with vervain. Now you better keep your promise."

"I will." I assured him. I didn't even plan on telling Rachel.

A lit bit later, I was in the shower washing my hair while Rachel was at the store. I was singing this new song that I heard from this girl named Kesha with a dollar sign replacing the s.

_Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy_  
_Grab my glasses I'm out the door gonna hit this city_  
_Before I leave brush my teeth with a bottle of jack_  
_Cause we I leave for the night I aint coming back_

_I'm talking pedicure on our toes_, _Trying on all our clothes_  
_Boys blowing up our phones_, _drop-topping playing our favorite CDs _  
_Pulling up to the parties, trying to get a little bit tipsy_

_Don't stop make it pop_  
_DJ blow my speakers up_  
_Tonight Imma fight till we see the sunlight_  
_Tick tock on the clock but party don't stop no_

I then heard the bell ring and quickly got out and put on my robe before I rushed downstairs. However, I heard the door closing and a car pulling away and I saw Lexi in a towel.

"Did you seriously answer the door in a towel?" I questioned. "Who was here?"

"She said that her name was Elena, but she looked just like the girl in the picture." She replied. "Stefan's got some serious issues."

"No." I stated. "Elena is not Katherine. Elena is human and Katherine is dead. This isn't even your house. Stefan loves Elena and he knows that she's not Elena."

"What about you? Do you have anybody that you love?" She asked.

"You should put some clothes on." I replied.

I had never been in love before. I didn't see the point of it when everyone I met would just get older. I didn't like the idea of turning someone to be with them. I always thought of the possibility that forever wouldn't be forever and I would just get heartbroken. Well there was that and the fact that I was terrified of actually falling for a guy considering that I used to be one. I had accepted that I was attracted to guys and even had sex with some on a few occasions, but to actually date a guy, let alone love one was a whole different book that I didn't want to open.

That night after Rachel came back from the store, we began to get ready for the party. I wore the same clothes as before except with a leather jacket and Rachel wore a blue button-down blouse with black collar and leather miniskirt with black suede boots.

"So what were you and Damon talking about earlier?" She asked.

"I can't tell you." I declared. "I promised that I wouldn't tell anyone. I can say that it's not anything bad though, at least from what he told me."

"I don't know how you can trust him at all." She replied.

"Well he did save my life." I pointed out. "I might have been able to save myself, but he definitely made it a lot easier by killing Logan."

"I would still be very wary about trusting him." She suggested.

"Rach, I know what I'm doing." I assured her. "Now I was going to see Elena with Stefan. Do you wanna come with or head to the party with Lexi?"

"I think I'll go to the party." She replied.

"Okay, then I'll see you there." I remarked.

I headed downstairs to see that Stefan was wearing the sweater that I had got him. I couldn't help but smile.

"So, it's not itchy or anything, is it?" I asked.

"No." He replied. "You know you don't have to come. I'm fully capable of doing this on my own."

"Elena likes me more than you right now." I explained.

Once we got to her house, I rang the doorbell and she answered it.

"Hey, what are you two doing here?" She asked.

"Lexi told me that you were at the house earlier today." Stefan said.

"Right, the girl in the towel." Elena replied with a scowl on her face. Stefan immediately started laughing.

"Lexi's not exactly a girl. She's 350 years old." Stefan explained. "She's my oldest friend. There's never been anything romantic between us."

"Why not?" I asked. "She's hot."

"We never really matched up and she was also always taking care of me." Stefan explained.

"So why did come by?" I asked.

"I feel like I can only talk to you guys about this since I can't say anything to my friends or family." She explained. "It was mistake."

"Elena, you don't have to feel that way." Stefan replied. "How about something fun? Do you wanna go to the Grill with us?"

"You're going to Caroline's party?" She asked in disbelief.

"Lexi's making me." Stefan explained. "And it's kind of my birthday."

"Oh, Happy Birthday." She told him awkwardly. "I was pretty sure that I was going to stay in though."

I pouted as we left, but part of her having the vervain was her free will.

We then headed to the Grill and I watched as Stefan got together with Lexi. The two of them really looked like they were having a blast together.

"Stefan smiles. Alert the media." Damon quipped as he appeared at my side with a drink in hand.

"You really haven't given him very many reasons to smile lately." I pointed out.

I then noticed Elena walk in and walked over to her.

"What did you do to my brother?" She asked.

"I did what you asked." I asked. "I made him forget about Vicki."

"Did you do anything else?" She questioned.

"Okay, so I compelled him to stop using drugs and do better in school." I admitted. "But these are good things. I want him to be happy too, and I just give him a little bit of nudging in the right direction so to speak."

"Well thanks, I guess." She replied. At that point, Lexi walked over with shots in her hand. I noticed that Rachel was on the dancefloor and she seemed to be a bit tipsy. I would have to retrieve her later.

"Well if it isn't the famous Elena." Lexi commented.

"Towel girl." Elena greeted.

"Eh, I've been called worse." Lexi replied as she handed each of us a shot. I downed it quickly.

"I didn't know you guys could drink." Elena remarked.

"You've seen me drink before." I reminded her. "Yes, alcohol helps with cravings. Of course not can we drink, we also get drunk easily if we take that method."

"So what's going on with you and Stefan?" Lexi asked. "I know that he likes you, but why aren't you with him at the moment?"

"We broke up." Elena stated.

"But you still love him, don't you?" She asked. "If you love him, that's all that matters."

"How can you be so sure?" Elena replied.

"Because my boyfriend was human. He went through a lot of what you're going through now." Lexi answered. She had a boyfriend it seemed. "But in the end, love really did conquer all."

I then headed to the bathroom to wash my hands and when I came back I noticed Tyler.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here tonight." He replied. He seemed to be sober.

Before I could respond, I noticed Sheriff Forbes was dragging Lexi out of the restaurant.

"I have to go. I'm sorry." I apologized before I grabbed Rachel and went out the back exit. We came across Stefan and Elena and then managed to see Damon stab Lexi in the heart in a stake. I gasped in shock.

"Was this what Damon told you?" Rachel asked me angrily.

"He only told me about the vervain." I replied.

"I'm going to kill him." Stefan seethed with rage.

"Stefan, you can't." I argued.

"Why are you trying to save him? He killed Lexi, Zach, Tanner, several others, turned Vicki, and abused Caroline." He listed.

"But he also saved my life." I pointed out.

"You were right to stay away from me." Stefan declared before he ran off. I noticed that Rachel looked kind of sick.

"Can you please get her home?" I asked Elena before I ran after him.

I made to the boarding house to see Stefan beating the crap out of him. I stepped in the way, holding him back with all of my might.

"Stefan, stop." I declared. "Stop it."

I then shoved him back into the wall. Stefan then walked away, knowing that I wouldn't let him kill Damon.

"You saved me." Damon remarked in surprise.

"I had to return the favor." I explained. "Look, what you did was unacceptable. You are a terrible person, but I do believe that you have a heart in you somewhere. You can't go around with your own agenda anymore. If we're going to live here together, we have to be a family."

So Brandy stopped Stefan from killing Damon, even though Lexi is still dead. She wants to have be a family with Stefan and Damon and Rachel. Please don't forget to review.


	10. History Repeating

In the morning, I woke up next to Rachel. I knew that today was going to be different, but I wasn't quite sure how. I quickly got dressed in a navy floral camisole with a maroon sport jacket with black pants and sneakers.

"So I still can't believe that Damon just killed Lexi." Rachel declared as she began to dress herself.

"Well, his plan was to make it so Lexi took the blame for all of the murders." I explained. "I'm not saying that it's right by any means, but it does accomplish something in keeping the Founder's Council at bay."

"We can't just sacrifice our friends to accomplish a goal." She pointed out as she put on brown sweater over her black dress and then added black heels. "What if Damon wanted to kill one of us?"

"I don't know." I explained. "Look, I'm trying with Damon. I know he's not exactly a model citizen, but I am seeing some improvement. I mean he's not just killing people for no reason anymore. He's better than he used to be."

"I still don't trust him and I really think that you shouldn't either." She instructed. "I really think that he's bad news."

"I want to believe that he can change because he's my family." I explained. "You don't have to believe it or trust him, but trust me."

"You have to stop always seeing the good in people." Rachel declared.

"I can't help it." I replied. "Now we should probably get going to school."

The two of us headed downstairs and I noticed that Stefan wasn't down there.

"Stefan, we're leaving." I called up. He didn't respond or come down and I realized that we didn't have any more time to wait. We headed out the door before we headed to school.

Once we got to school, we met up with Elena and Caroline in the parking lot.

"So why are you and Bonnie fighting again?" Elena asked.

"It's simple. She's a thief. I gave her my necklace and she refuses to give it back." The taller blonde explained. "It's a matter of principle."

"You could be the bigger person." Elena suggested.

"Ugh, that's impossible with her." Caroline declared.

"That's it, I'm out of it." Elena stated.

"So how are things going with Stefan?" Caroline asked her.

"I'm not entirely sure." Elena admitted. "I need to talk to him about it."

Caroline then went to class and we stayed with Elena.

"So is Damon still alive?" She asked me.

"Yes." I answered. "Now we need to get to class."

We walked into the classroom and not long after, a man in his early 30s with brown hair walked into the room.

"Good morning, everyone." He greeted before he started to write his name on the board. "Alaric Saltzman. It's a mouthful, I know. It doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Saltzman is of German origins, but I'm from Boston. Now the name Alaric belongs to a very dead great-grandfather I will never be able to thank enough. So you can call me Ric. I'm your new History teacher."

I just hoped that Damon wouldn't kill him too, but it seemed a lot less likely. He also seemed like he was a cool guy. I hoped that he would be a good teacher as well.

I decided to go home during lunch because I needed a special kind of lunch. I also wanted to check on Stefan. He was in his room and so was Damon. He seemed like he was just waking up. I couldn't help but wonder why he had slept so late.

"You need some coffee." Damon told him. "Come on. Drink up. It does dead flesh good. Okay I'm sorry. I got the council off our backs."

"Because obviously I realize killing your best friend was not only a vile thing, but also worthy of humor." Stefan replied.

"Are mimicking me?" Damon asked.

"Yes, Stefan." He replied. "Now that the Secret Society of Vampire Haters is off our backs, I can go back to my plan of finding new ways to ruin my brother's life."

"And I can go back to Elena-pining and be broody." Damon remarked before going into an aside. "This is fun. I like this."

"And I will finally reveal my diabolical plan and its ulterior motive." Stefan retorted.

"Yeah, I'm done playing." Damon declared. "That's just like you, Damon, you always have to have the last word."

"Okay, you seriously need to come to school." I remarked. "You're the one who wanted us to go and you can't just not show up."

"I'll probably show up later." He stated. I sighed because I knew that I had to get back,

I rushed into the school, needing to get to class quickly. I should have expected that I would run into someone.

"I'm so sorry." I said as I looked the girl over. She was Asian, a little taller than me. She was wearing a black low-cut sweater with a black tank top underneath with a navy fringe skirt that I could see black knee socks under with black platform boots. I then noticed two rings on her fingers. One was a normal ring with A Scrabble tile attached and the other was lapis lazuli.

"Who are you?" I asked her.

"Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just want to go to school." She told me. "I'm Anna."

"Brandy." I replied as I shook her hand. I couldn't help but think that I had seen her before, but I had no idea where.

"Oh and by the way, I could totally kick your ass if I wanted to." She added. "But I have class."

"Just try not to kill anyone, and we won't have any problems." I told her.

I then headed to back to class. Surprisingly, I wasn't late.

After school, Elena and I were heading outside when we noticed that Stefan was sitting on a table. He looked serious. Of course, it wasn't much different from how he usually looked.

"You weren't in class. I was worried." Elena stated. "You didn't call either."

"I wanted to say what I'm about to tell you in person." He replied.

"A simple 'I didn't kill my brother' text would have sufficed." She quipped.

"I didn't kill my brother. He has Brandy to thank for that." Stefan declared.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Elena asked.

"I won't be coming to school anymore." He stated. Elena looked at me, but I was just as shocked as she was. I couldn't believe that he had said that. "I think that I need to back off and keep my distance."

"From school or from me?" She asked. He didn't even respond. "Well, thank you for telling me."

I had a lot I wanted to say in response, but I didn't want to make a scene by doing it in public.

"You're angry." Stefan noted. "It's better if you hate me."

"I can't hate you." Elena said before he walked away.

"I'll talk to him." I promised as I prepared to leave.

"Wait." She declared as she grabbed me. "Do you and Rachel wanna sleep over at my house tonight by any chance?"

"Sure, probably." I stated. "I just need to talk to Stefan."

I grabbed Rachel and the two of us headed home. Once we were inside the boarding house, I decided to let Stefan have it.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" I shouted. "You are not just going to break up with Elena. You should be telling her that you love her, you idiot."

Before I could continue my tirade at him, my phone rang. It was Elena.

"What's up?" I asked as I tried my best to remain calm.

"Can you guys bring Stefan when you come over?" She replied. "We need to talk about some things that Damon said to Bonnie."

"Sure." I agreed before I hung up and looked at Stefan. "You are coming."

So a little bit later, the three of us headed to the Gilbert house. I noticed that Bonnie and Caroline were inside. Elena came outside to talk to us. It looked serious.

"He threatened her." She explained.

"Why would Damon want anything to do with Bonnie?" I mused.

"She has this necklace." Elena answered. "It was from her ancestor from the Civil War…when you lived here."

"Her name was name was Emily. She was Katherine's handmaiden and a witch." Stefan replied.

"You know about Bonnie?" She asked.

"I actually used to be a witch before I was turned." Rachel explained.

"So the necklace, is it an antique setting with an amber crystal?" Stefan questioned. She nodded. "It belonged to Katherine. Emily must have given it to her. I can see what he wants with it."

"I'll help." I added. "I feel this is more important. Maybe Rachel can stay here."

"Yeah, I guess I can do that." The blonde agreed as she went into the house and Stefan and I headed to find Damon. I suggested that we check the Grill.

He was at the bar with a bottle of bourbon in front of him.

"So, Stefan." Stefan greeted him. "I think we should start over."

"I don't, Damon." The older brother replied. "You kill everyone and you're so mean and you're so mean and…I give up. You're really hard to imitate."

"Can I get two coffees?" Stefan asked the bartender. "So why the bottle?"

I was pretty sure it was because Damon was an alcoholic. I'd seen him drinking either blood or booze a lot.

"I'm on edge from your diet." Damon explained.

"No one said that you had to adopt his diet." I pointed out.

"I don't need you two to babysit me." He declared. '

"We're not here for that. We're here to spend some quality family time together." I explained.

From there, we began to play some darts together. Well I was more doing scorekeeping than anything else. I didn't really understand how to play darts. I never really saw the point of it, but it seemed to be something that the two of them both liked to do.

"You're beating me." Damon noted.

"That's because I'm better than you." Stefan told him.

"What is with this attitude?" Damon asked.

"Would you prefer that he be all broody?" I questioned.

"You two are up to something. I'm onto you." He remarked. "So what are you planning?"

"You know that's the same thing that we've been asking since you got here." Stefan pointed out. "So, it's a beautiful night. We shouldn't waste it stuck in here. Let's go out."

From there we headed to the school. Stefan grabbed a football from the athletic department storage and we headed out to the field.

"So what are we doing out here?" Damon asked.

"We're going to play some football." I explained as I held the ball.

"You know Stefan wouldn't even know how to play this game if not for me." Damon stated. That was necessarily true. He probably would have learned eventually from being alive for the next 150 years.

"Just go long." I declared as I tossed the ball. Stefan was going to be playing defense. Damon caught the ball, but Stefan immediately tackled him hard, causing the ball to come out and both of them to go to the ground. I picked it up and ran it into the endzone, because it was definitely a catch, before I headed back over to them.

"Fuck, that hurt." Damon stated.

"That's the thing about my diet." Stefan explained. "Everything hurts a lot more."

I took a seat next to them. I wasn't going to lay my head back because I didn't want to get grass and dirt in my hair. The view of the night sky was very beautiful.

"So you two have really outdone yourselves with a night of booze, football and the stars." Damon declared before he sat up. "What do you want?"

"Our love for Katherine wasn't real," Stefan remarked. I wasn't sure where he was going with that. We wanted to find out what he wanted with the crystal. "She compelled us."

"We are not going into that tonight, Stefan." He remarked as he began to walk away. I decided to jump to the point.

"What do you want with Katherine's crystal?" I asked. That got him to stop in his tracks.

"How did you know about that?" He questioned.

"Come on, you knew that Bonnie would tell Elena and Elena would tell us." Stefan pointed out.

"I mean how did you know it was Katherine's?" Damon clarified. "Emily gave it to her on her last night. I was with her. You were not."

"I was the last person to see her." Stefan stated. "So what do you want with it?"

"She didn't tell you?" Damon challenged.

"We had other things on our minds." Stefan replied. I had a pretty good idea what that meant.

"I could rip your heart out." Damon said as he sped in front of him.

"I doubt that." Stefan declared. Damon began to walk away before he turned to face both of us.

"I've got a bigger surprise." He remarked. "I'm gonna bring her back."

"How?" I asked. How could he just bring someone back from the dead? Rachel told me that witches couldn't do that without using massive amounts of power.

"Well before Katherine was captured, the town's people were killing vampires left and right." He explained. "I had a feeling it was only a matter of time. So I went to Emily and got her to cast a spell to save her."

"How did she do that?" Stefan inquired.

"She created a tomb underneath the church." He answered. "She was in there while we thought she was burning in the church."

"How did you convince Emily to do that?" Stefan responded. "Why would she help you?"

"Because she knew that they would come for her too." Damon stated. "So I vowed to keep her lineage alive when they did."

"You saved her children, but I could never forget why." Stefan commented.

"It's the only thing keeping me from ripping that Bonnie girl's throat out to get the crystal back." He explained. "Oh well, a deal's a deal."

I was surprised by Damon's sense of honor. I knew there was some good in him.

At that point, both mine and Stefan's phones began to ring. Rachel was calling me.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Emily is possessing Bonnie." She explained. "She said 'I won't let him have it. It must be destroyed.' I think she was talking about the crystal."

"Fell's Church." I heard Elena say. I guess that was where Emily was going.

"Okay, I'll meet you there." I told her. I hung up the phone as Stefan told Elena to stay, which I didn't think she would and hung up himself. It was at that moment that I realized Damon was gone. "I'm guessing that he went there too."

We went to the church to Bonnie/Emily looking ready to prepare some kind of spell while Damon was impaled to a tree. I went and got him loose.'

"Fuck this. I'm going back to human." He told me.

"Stefan." Emily remarked. She still had Bonnie's voice.

"Hello, Emily." He greeted her.

"These people don't deserve to have to know this kind of evil." Emily replied.

"What do you mean evil?" I inquired. Was Katherine bad?

"Emily, I swear to God that I am going to make you regret this." Damon said.

"I won't let you unleash them into this world." Emily added.

"I thought you said that it was just Katherine." I replied.

"It doesn't matter." Damon stated.

"I never should have trusted you." Stefan remarked.

"With one comes all." Emily explained. "In order to save her, I had to save all of them."

"I don't care about them. I just want Katherine." Damon remarked as he got to his feet.

"Damon, is this about love or revenge?" I questioned.

"It's both." He answered as Stefan grabbed onto his shoulders to hold him back. I didn't know any of the vampires in the tomb, so I couldn't make any judgments of them."

"Damon, you can't do this." Stefan warned him.

"Why not?" He challenged as he struggled in his brother's arms. "They killed 27 people and called it a war battle. They deserve whatever they get."

"They were vampires, Damon." Stefan reminded him. "You can't just bring them back."

"This town deserves whatever it gets." Damon said icily.

"You can't blame innocent people for what their ancestors did." I told him.

"They are not innocent." He responded. "Do you think Logan was innocent when he shot you just for being a vampire? They already know too much and they'll burn your little grand-witch right where they killed you."

"Things are different now." Emily replied.

"Don't do this." Damon begged.

"I can't free them." The witch replied. "I won't. Incindia!"

The ground lit up around her and she threw the necklace in the air where it exploded.

"Bonnie!" Elena replied as Rachel held her back.

Once it was over, Bonnie looked dazed. Damon charged at her and bit into her neck. I ran over and tore him off before I looked at her bloody neck.

"She's still alive but barely. I can save her." I declared. I bit into my wrist and fed her my blood. She looked confused as I forced her to swallow.

"It's healing." Elena stated.

A few minutes later, I found Damon sitting on a stump.

"Katherine never compelled me." He declared. "I knew everything, every step of the way. It was real for me. I'll leave now."

I noticed that Elena was trying to console a very confused Bonnie. She and Stefan and Rachel were talking before they told her to wait in Elena's car. Elena said that she was going to tell her everything that she knew.

"You saved her life." Elena remarked. "You know I think I can do this, Stefan. You don't have to push me away. I can do this."

"I can't." Stefan declared. He wasn't supposed to say that. "I need to go. Too many people have died and I just want you to have a normal life. It'll be over when I'm gone and you're better off without me."

"Please don't go." Elena begged. "I know you think that you're protecting me, but I feel safer here with you."

Stefan just gave her a kiss on the forehead before he walked away.

"I know it probably doesn't mean as much, but Rachel and I aren't going anywhere." I promised. "I'm gonna try my best to convince him to stay."

So Anna made her first appearance of the story. It's also up to Brandy to try to get Stefan and Damon to stay, even though you know they are. Please don't forget to review.


	11. The Turning Point

It was the morning after. I really hoped that Stefan and Damon weren't serious about leaving. I hadn't expected to grow close to my family upon coming back, but I had grown close to both of them and I didn't want either of them to leave.

"So do you have any ideas on how to convince them to stay?" Rachel asked me as I came out of the shower. She was wearing a black, white, and orange-striped strapless dress and leather jacket with a silver chain necklace and black platform sandals. I began to dry myself off with a towel.

"Not yet." I admitted as I went into my dresser, deciding on a black wool sweater with a maroon cardigan and baby blue lace shorts with maroon heels. "I don't know how I can convince them. I don't think I can even use the part about Elena being unprotected because the two of us will still be here."

"Yeah, but the two of them are older than us." She pointed out. "Let's just go downstairs and see if we can convince them to stay."

We headed downstairs and I heard Stefan asking Damon where he planned on going. Hypothetically, I imagined Stefan would choose his destination based on somewhere far from Damon.

"We're a team. We need to do something together." Damon replied. "We could try out for _The Amazing Race."_

"That's funny.' Stefan quipped. "Seriously, where are you going because we're not staying here?"

I still didn't know the reason why they weren't staying. It was too bad that a reason for them to stay wasn't just going to come to the door.

At that moment, the bell rang. I answered it to see Sheriff Forbes.

"Hi, Sheriff" I greeted her. "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

"I'm here to see Damon." She stated.

"Of course." I replied as Damon came to the door.

"What can I do for you, Sheriff?" He asked.

"There's been an incident." She explained. Had Damon killed someone else without my knowledge? It seemed like he didn't know what she was talking about.

After a few minutes, the two of them headed outside. I decided to follow them because I wanted to hear it firsthand.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"You don't need to be involved in this." He replied. "It would probably be better for everyone if you went inside."

"Damon, I have the right to be concerned if the sheriff needs to see you." I pointed out. "I'm not a kid. She can say whatever she needs to say in front of me."

"There's been another animal attack." Sheriff Forbes lied.

"Damon is not animal control. Just give me the truth." I stated.

"It was vampires." Damon relented. I tried my best to act shocked. "But I thought that that stuff was over we killed the blonde."

"She must have turned someone or multiple someones." The sheriff replied. "There was a female victim found this morning on Maple Street."

Damon actually looked pretty confused by it. It made me think that he hadn't done it. I did have a suspect, but I was going to ask nicely before jumping to conclusions."

"So what do we do about it?" I asked.

"Well I was hoping that Damon could tell us." She explained. "He's the only way I know that's ever killed a vampire before."

"Well don't vampires hate the sun?" I questioned. "Whoever it is, they probably won't come out until after dark."

"I'll keep you posted if we find anything." Damon said before we went back in and headed to the door. "Thank you for stopping by."

As soon as she was gone, Stefan pushed Damon against the wall.

"You killed someone else?" He asked.

"I don't think he did it, Stefan." I declared.

"Of course I didn't." Damon replied as he pushed his brother back. "I wouldn't be obvious about it and don't touch me."

"Then who could it be?" Stefan asked.

"What do we care? We're leaving anyway." Damon retorted.

"I can't leave now. You know that." Stefan replied. Whoever this vampire, I needed to mental thank them. I probably wouldn't actually do it because they could be dangerous.

"Well Rachel and I are going to go investigate." I stated. "It's too bad that we can't use the compass."

"I have an idea." Damon replied as he grabbed the compass and headed out the door.

"I'm gonna tell Elena about this." Stefan responded. Well at least we were all working towards a common goal.

I went to the school and that was where I found her. She was wearing a leather jacket with a black cami and navy pleated miniskirt with black tights and boots.

"We need to talk." I declared as I stopped her in the hallway. "There was a body found out in the open this morning. Do you know anything about it?"

"I'm not stupid enough to leave a body out like that." She replied.

"Okay, then I'm sorry to bother you about it." I remarked before I walked away.

"Who is she?" Rachel asked.

"Her name's Anna." I explained. "It looks like she's not the vampire that we're looking for."

"So what, you're really just going to take her word for it?" She responded.

"Yes." I answered bluntly.

"I hope you're not making a mistake." She replied. "You don't have to trust everyone."

"I know that she didn't kill this person." I explained. "I can see that she wasn't lying."

"Okay, then what are we supposed to do?" She asked. "If she was your only suspect, then how the hell are we going to find this vampire?"

"Well I do think that this person is a new vampire." I remarked. "No experienced vampire would leave a body out like that unless they were trying to send a message and there wasn't any clear message. It makes me believe that whoever it is probably isn't in possession of a daylight ring, so they probably won't come out until after dark, so we have some time to wait."

"Why would another vampire even be here?" She mused.

"Perhaps they were just looking for a change of scenery like us." I surmised. "At any rate, we need to find them and make sure that learn that they can't do this in our town."

"We should probably just kill them." She suggested.

"We don't know the circumstances of what happened here." I pointed out. "It could have just been a mistake. I don't want to end someone's life unless I know all of the circumstances surrounding it."

At that moment, my phone began to ring. It was Elena.

"Have you talked to Stefan yet?" I asked her.

"Yes, he told me about the vampire situation and how he wasn't going to leave until it was resolved." She summarized.

"Well, what are you calling about?" I replied.

"I wanted to know if your offer to go shopping is still open." She asked. "I need something to wear to career night at school."

"Yeah, I guess we could help you with that." I agreed.

We then went to the store to meet Elena. I could see a bit of a smile because she seemed to have hope that Stefan would stay in town.

"So have you thought of any possible ways to make Stefan stay?" She asked.

"Well we could drag out finding this vampire, but that would probably be detrimental to the citizens of Mystic Falls." I responded. "Maybe you should just get a killer outfit that will make Stefan want to be with you again."

"I would think that Stefan wouldn't be so easy to get to." Elena stated.

"He's still a guy." I pointed out. "Guys have a hard time resisting when a girl dresses sexy."

It was something that I knew from experience.

"You know, you look like your legs should be cold." She commented.

"It's only November." I reminded her. "Plus, I don't feel as cold as long as I get a steady diet of human blood."

"And just to be sure, you're not actually getting it from people like Damon does?" She asked.

"Yes, every now and then, I go down to the hospital and grab a few bags of blood at a time." I explained. "It's such a small amount that no one even notices they're missing and I don't even take any O bags because it's so rare. So I think that one will look good on you."

She went to put on the dress and Rachel and I headed back home after she finished at the register. I probably wasn't going to change for career night, but I was definitely going to go.

"So what do you want to be when you moved to New York?" Rachel asked me.

"I didn't really have a clear plan." I admitted. "I was tending bars a few nights a week. I did want to be a doctor, but I didn't want to go to school to become one."

"Well you could do it now." She pointed out. "The blood might be a bit of an issue, but I really think that you could get over it quickly."

"I like it here." I pointed out. "I'm not in any rush to leave. I know if I studied enough, I could comply myself a degree, but I'm not looking to become a doctor right now and I would need some time to get used to the blood."

From there, the two of us headed to the school. I noticed that there were booths all over for sorts of different types of careers. I had to act like I at least had some interest, even though it usually wasn't something that juniors needed to worry about. I didn't know if I was going to stay for senior year. I supposed it would just depend on how I felt after the end of the year. I could stay in Mystic Falls for a few years if I wanted to. I began to look around the booths and I noticed that Jeremy was talking to Tyler at the art booths. It looked like they might start to fight.

"Come on, guys, let's not do this here." I told them.

At that point, Tyler just walked away and I noticed the name on the sketches: Tyler Lockwood. I didn't know that he drew. I would have to talk to him about it. I decided that I would go do that.

"So I didn't know that you were an artist." I commented.

"It's an elective." He replied.

"You're really good." I explained as he turned his head. "Are you always like this when someone's nice to you?"

At that point, the mayor walked over to us. He had a smirk on his face.

"Tyler, why aren't you looking at the booths?" He asked. "You need something to do until you're old enough to be mayor."

Something told me that he did not really want to be mayor.

"Hi, I'm Mayor Lockwood." He greeted me.

"Brandy Salvatore." I replied as I shook his hand.

"Salvatore? Are you related the Founders by any chance?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered. "I have to go."

I then went to find Elena to see if she had met up with Stefan yet. I noticed that she had and it looked like things might not have been going so smoothly.

"Hey, you two." I greeted them. "What's up?"

"Stefan was just telling me how he's still leaving town after he's done with this current mess." Elena replied.

I was about to tell Stefan that he didn't have to leave before suddenly, Jenna walked into the room. She looked to be a bit annoyed and scared and also embarrassed.

"Hide me." She begged us.

"Why would we need to do that?" I asked her.

"The Scum Fell has landed." She explained.

"Logan's here?" Elena asked. Okay, that was not a good thing. It looked like we knew who our vampire was.

"Wait, Logan Fell?" Stefan asked.

"Uh-huh." Jenna replied.

"Stay." I whispered to Stefan before I went outside and saw Logan working the crowd. He was talking to Anna, but I didn't think she knew about him. I couldn't hear what they were saying. As soon as she walked away, he waved at me.

"Brandy, what's going on?" Elena asked as she and Jenna and Stefan came out into the hallway.

"Jenna, are you dodging me?" Logan questioned as he walked over.

"It's a form of self-preservation." Jenna replied. She had no idea how true that was.

"Stefan, why don't you take Jenna and Elena away from here?" I suggested. Elena looked confused and I shot Stefan a look that said I could handle it. The three of them walked away. "What are you doing here?"

"Your…what is he your brother…asked me the same thing." He answered. "He's probably not feeling too good after being shot with all of those wooden bullets. How about we skip the awkward 'Who turned me' part and get to the good stuff. Tell me how I can be a daywalker?"

"Damon and I are the only ones that I know." I lied.

"But you're both a bit cagey on the how, which means that there is a way." He pointed out. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm quite the celebrity in this town. It would be very easy for me to expose you."

"You wanna know how to walk in the sun?" He asked.

"I do." He replied.

"Tough luck because you can't." I declared. "You should really think twice about who you threaten because I know all of the different ways to kill you."

I texted Rachel to meet me outside. As soon as we got there, I began to explain what happened.

"Okay, you were right. We need to kill him." I remarked. "It turns out that the vampire in question is Logan Fell."

"Well how are we going to kill him?" She questioned. "We obviously can't do it around all of these people."

"We'll get him away from all of these people." I explained before I noticed that the door opened and Elena came out.

"Is there anything that you wanted to tell me?" She asked.

"Okay, so I didn't tell you that Damon killed Logan." I admitted. "But he shot me and was prepared to kill me. I don't know who turned him into a vampire, but it wasn't Damon. We need to find him and kill him."

We went inside and met with Stefan before we began to look for him. Eventually, we decided to ask the first person that we saw, who happened to be Matt.

"Hey, have you seen Logan Fell, the news guy?"

"Yeah, he was giving Caroline a ride home." Matt explained. "What?"

I pointed to Rachel to stay with Elena to keep her there while Stefan and I went to look for her. He ended up calling Damon on the way. We found the car was stopped at a stop sign. It seemed a bit strange for a vampire to do when there clearly wasn't any traffic. I ripped him out of the car and threw him to the ground. At that point, Damon began shooting at him.

"Get her out of here." He told us.

Stefan grabbed her and I figured that they had the situation under control and headed back to the school. However, before I could go inside, I noticed that something was going on in the parking lot. I noticed that Mayor Lockwood had Jeremy and Tyler away from everyone else.

"What's going on here?" I asked. At the same time, Mr. Saltzman also appeared.

"I'm just letting this boys work things out." The mayor declared. "You can go back inside."

"I don't wanna go back inside." The teacher declared.

"What do you think gives you the right to talk to me like that?" Mayor Lockwood questioned. "Do I like one of your high school students?"

"No, you look like a fully-grown alpha male douchebag." Mr. Saltzman replied. That was awesome.

"You know I could have your job so you'd better watch how you address me." Mayor Lockwood responded.

"Then it would be me and you out here fighting to work things out." Mr. Saltzman retorted. "You cool with that?"

"Let's go Tyler." His father stated. I couldn't help but feel a bit more sympathy for Tyler than I did before.

"You are awesome." I told Mr. Saltzman with a smile.

I then realized that I needed to go inside. I found that Rachel had already gone home and Stefan was apparently heading home with Elena. I really hoped that she would be able to convince him to stay because I had exhausted all of my options.

I decided that I would see if I could get a chance to check on Tyler. I went back outside and saw him punch Jeremy in the face. I held the teenager to keep him from falling back.

"What is your problem?" I asked.

"I don't know." Tyler declared before he walked away. I then noticed a full moon behind him and was hit with a thought. Nah, it was probably just a coincidence.

I gave Jeremy a ride home before heading home myself and noticed tha Elena was speeding away from the house. I decided to follow after her on foot. I had a feeling that she would be going home and I thought about just going there, but I decided just to follow her. Suddenly, someone appeared in the middle of the road and didn't move. She tried to swerve to avoid him, but the car flipped over.

So Brandy witnessed the accident, but will Elena still end up going to Atlanta? Will Brandy end up going.? Please don't forget to review.


	12. Bloodlines

I gave Jeremy a ride home before heading home myself and noticed tha Elena was speeding away from the house. I decided to follow after her on foot. I had a feeling that she would be going home and I thought about just going there, but I decided just to follow her. Suddenly, someone appeared in the middle of the road and didn't move. She tried to swerve to avoid him, but the car flipped over.

I stopped my car and I got out as I realized that she had hit the man and he was getting up. It wasn't Logan. It was a different vampire. I couldn't see his face. He started to head towards the car before Damon showed up and scared him off. I then ran over to the two of them.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm stuck." She declared. Damon ripped the door off.

"I need you to put your hands on the roof." He instructed.

"What are you doing?" I asked. Elena did so and he unfastened her seatbelt, which allowed him to extract her from the car.

"Elena, why were you in such a rush to leave the house?" I asked her. I needed to get to the bottom of it.

"I look like her." She cried before passing out.

"Is she okay?" I asked.

"There's no broken bones and it doesn't look like anything hit her." He explained. He then smelled her. "No internal bleeding."

At that point, he began to put her in his car and buckled her up.

"I guess she's coming with me." He added. What was he talking about?

"Damon, you can't kidnap her." I declared. "I won't let you."

I then felt my neck snap before I fell to the ground and faded into blackness. I could not believe that he had done that.

When I awoke, I was lying down on the back seat of Damon's car. It was morning. I sat up in anger.

"Damon, I'm going to kill you!" I shouted. I was pretty sure that woke Elena up.

"Good morning." Damon declared.

"Where are we?" She asked. It didn't look like anywhere I had ever seen.

"Georgia." Damon drawled. That was not good.

"No, I can't go to Georgia." Elena protested.

"I'm pretty sure that we're already in Georgia." I commented.

"We have to go back. We have to turn around." She replied.

"No can do." Damon said.

"You know this is kidnapping, don't you?" I asked.

"Stop being so dramatic." He ordered.

"Why can't we turn around?" Elena questioned. "Can you at least stop the car?"

He did that and the two of us got out of the car. I thought about being hit up and stealing his car, but I didn't know the way back. My neck still felt sore, but Elena seemed to be worse.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Nothing's broken." Damon stated. "You're probably just feeling sore."

"So what happened to you?" Elena questioned as she noticed my rubbing.

"He broke my neck." I explained. "It's commonly thought of as the best way to incapacitate a vampire."

"Can we please go back?" She begged Damon.

"We're almost there." He stated.

"Where is there?" I responded.

"It's a little place just outside of Atlanta." He answered. "You'll love it."

At that point, Elena's phone began to go off.

"Why do you have my phone?" She asked. Come to think of it, I couldn't find mine either.

"It's your boyfriend." He remarked as he tried to hand it to her, but she didn't take it. I still didn't understand what she meant. "Elena's phone."

"Where is she? Why do you have her phone? Is she okay? Where's Brandy?" Stefan asked.

"They're both right here with me." Damon answered.

"Let me talk to her." Stefan demanded.

"I don't think she wants to talk to you right now." Damon replied.

"Damon, tell me where you right now." The younger brother ordered.

"You have a nice day." Damon responded before he hung up.

"Do you have my phone too?" I asked him.

"It wouldn't stop ringing, so I turned it off." He explained as he gave it to me. I looked and noticed that I had 11 missed calls, 27 messages, and a new Facebook friend request. I texted Rachel to let her know that I was alright, but with Damon.

"Let's just go to this place already." I declared.

We got back into the car and stopped at a bar: Bree's Bar. It was good because I really needed a drink.

"Damon, they're not going to let me in." She argued.

"Just walk." I suggested as we headed inside.

"No it can't be. Damon, my honey-pie?" The bartender asked before she jumped over the bar, walked over and gave him a very wet kiss. It was kind of disgusting.

We then all took seats at the bar, whereas the women, Bree, returned to behind it.

"Attention, everyone, I'd like to raise a toast to the man who broke my heart, crushed my soul, and destroyed any future chance I'll ever have at happiness." Bree announced. That was a very strange thing to toast to.

"So how would he rope you two in?" Bree asked.

"He kidnapped us." I explained.

"Elena's a friend and this little one is my distant niece." Damon replied. I wasn't sure why, but it probably had to do with Stefan withholding the information about Katherine's appearance, but I decided to tell it.

"That hasn't always been true." I explained. "You know how Rachel used to be a witch? This is a story about how you shouldn't piss off a witch."

"That's definitely true." Bree commented.

"Do you mind?" I asked as she went to someone else. "Now as I was saying, the day that I met Rachel was also the same day that I met Damon. She was running a record shop and I walked in looking for someone that wasn't what I considered to be chick music."

"Why would you have a problem with that?" Elena asked.

"Because I was looking for something more masculine." I explained. "Rachel was not happy about my sexism and wanted to teach me a lesson."

"Wait, are you saying that you used to be a guy?" Elena questioned.

"Yes." I answered. "It was supposed to be temporary, but when Damon turned me into a vampire that night, it became permanent. The only other person that knows is Stefan…well and Zach did, but he's dead."

"So why are you telling us this now?" Elena replied. "I never would have guessed that about you."

"That's because I've been a woman for the last 45 years." I pointed out.

"Well, I'm sorry that you got stuck." Damon apologized. "I'm not sorry for turning you though."

"I didn't expect you to be." I admitted.

"So how did you meet Bree?" Elena asked.

"College." Bree piped in.

"You went to college?" I asked in disbelief.

"I've been known to go around a college campus every now and then." Damon corrected.

"It was 1989. I was a sweet young freshman when I met the most handsome man I had ever seen. Eventually, he told me his little secret, but I wasn't scared because I had a secret of my own." She explained.

"She's a witch." Damon added. I kind of already guessed that based on her comments.

I still hadn't been able to find out why we were there. I seriously doubted that Damon had driven 500 miles just to see an old flame. I looked around the bar after coming back from the bathroom and heard the two of them talking as they sat at a table.

"It's just like I told you then." Bree declared. "You need the comet, the crystal, and the spell to open the tomb."

"There's a slight problem. I don't have the crystal anymore and never will." He explained. He was still trying to open the tomb. He must have really loved Katherine.

"Then that's it." She stated.

"What about a new spell?" He asked.

"Emily's spell is absolute." Bree argued. I didn't believe that there was truly no way to open it. At that point, I got a call from Stefan.

"Where are you?" He asked.

"I can't tell you that right now." I explained.

"Brandy, I need to talk to Elena about this, so tell me where you are." He demanded.

"Stefan, Elena needs some time." I told him. "You really hurt her by not telling her the truth about Katherine, but she's fine. I'll make sure nothing happens to her."

I then hung up and got a call from Rachel.

"Where are you?" She questioned. I couldn't help but laugh internally because she started the call the same.

"Rachel, I'm fine." I declared. "Yes, I got brought here against my will, but I don't need you to come to me. There is something else that I wanted to tell you. I told Damon and Elena the truth about me."

"What do you?" She asked me.

"I told them about what you did to me." I explained. "Damon's trying to find a new way to open the tomb. I'm not sure if he'll be able to do it, but he is doing it out of love. I gotta go, but we can talk when I get back."

I noticed that Elena had finally accepted a call from Stefan, but she had also hung up on him.

"Are you two okay?" Damon asked.

"Don't gloat." Elena warned him. "I'm hungry. I could really use something to eat. I hope you're prepared to buy."

The three of us each ordered a burger and fries. It had been a long time since I had just had simple burger. The only problem was that I didn't know it had lettuce on it.

"So why do I look like Katherine? Am I part vampire?" She asked.

"Nope, vampires can't procreate. Not that we wouldn't love to try." Damon remarked.

"Speak for yourself." I remarked. I knew I didn't want to be pregnant.

"You don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?" He questioned as he took the pickle off of her plate and ate it.

"How can you guys even eat?" She inquired.

"I told that everything works fine as long as we drink blood regularly." I remarked.

"So do you have any trouble adapting?" Elena asked me. "Do you still like girls?"

"No, I like guys." I explained. "I can't explain how my body works, but I have an attraction to guys. I've had sex before, even though I've never actually had anything serious with a guy before, partly because of what I am, but mostly because I'm scared of what would happen. I don't know if I want to fall in love with someone."

"Well do you like Tyler?" She asked.

"No, I could possibly see myself becoming friends with him, but I would probably never go out with him." I explained.

To be honest, I probably was starting to fall for him a little bit, which I knew needed to stop, but we went to the same school and lived in the same town, so it wasn't exactly easy to avoid him. I could lie and say that I wasn't interested, but I wasn't even sure if he was interested in me anymore. Maybe he was sick of me telling him no.

"So how long are we going to be here?" Elena asked.

"You don't need to be in such a rush to get back." Damon remarked. "Whatever problems you have will still be there."

At that point, I noticed that Elena wasn't wearing her necklace. I shot Damon a look saying that he would regret it if he compelled her. I did have ways of injuring him and I still needed to get him back for breaking my neck.

"Just think of today as a timeout of sorts." He suggested as Bree came and gave me and him a new beer.

"I want one too." Elena declared. "If I'm doing a time out then I'll need some alcohol."

I realized at that moment that I could use a break from all of the drama of Mystic Falls as well. Like Elena, I would also need some alcohol. Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind an excuse just to get drunk. I hadn't been drunk since coming to Mystic Falls at least. I really hoped that Damon would make sure that I didn't do anything stupid while I was drunk. I really hoped that he cared about me like a little sister.

So later in that night, Bree got everyone in the bar into a drinking contest. The winner would be determined by whoever finished first.

"Ready, set, go!" Bree declared as we all began to drink. I finished mine first with Elena coming up right behind me.

"Yes, I win, I win, I win." I replied giddily. I then looked at Damon. "How does it feel to be a loser?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you're way too happy when you're drunk?" He asked.

"That doesn't mean that you're still not a loser." I pointed out as I put my fingers in an L over my forehead.

"You're also a sore winner." He added before looking at Elena. "I also don't understand how you're able to unhinge your jaw like a snake."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're really pretty?" Elena asked. She then grabbed him and kissed him. So, maybe things were her and Stefan really were over. I didn't know how to feel about that, it might have been because I was less capable of forming coherent thoughts while intoxicated. I decided that it would be give them some privacy and walked outside my phone rang.

"Hey, Rach." I greeted her.

"Where the hell are you? You've been gone away and I'm starting to get worried." She replied. I couldn't help but giggle. "And you're drunk. I've been worried sick and you've been getting drunk."

Before I could say anything else, I was grabbed from behind by someone. As soon as I got the chance, I broke free and growled at him, baring my fangs.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He declared. I wasn't sure if I could hurt him either. He was really blurry. I couldn't understand why he had kidnapped me and also why I had been kidnapped twice in less than 24 hours.

At that point, Damon arrived with Elena. The vampire ran over and began to beat on him with a baseball bat. I rushed over and threw myself in between them.

"I'm not going to let you hurt him." I declared.

"He killed my girlfriend." The man replied.

"I don't know your girlfriend." Damon cried in pain.

"Yes, you do. She went to visit Stefan on his birthday and you killed her." He explained. I then realized exactly what he meant. It was the guy that Lexi was talking about.

"She said you were human." Elena remarked.

"I was." He confirmed. I thought it was implied that she had turned him. "To be with someone forever, you have to live forever."

"You can't do this." I replied. "Revenge isn't going to bring Lexi back. You may feel better at first, but what would really make you feel in the long run would be to move on with your life.

He then pushed me aside and grabbed Damon before throwing him across the construction site.

"Thank you." I told him.

"It wasn't for you." He declared before he ran away and I went over to Damon. I promptly kicked him in nuts.

"What was that for?" He asked.

"For breaking my neck, killing Lexi, and kidnapping me." I explained. I then grabbed my stomach. "Oh, I don't feel so good."

So after I was done hurling, we went back to the bar. Elena and I waited in the car. Damon came back with blood on his hands, but I still feeling queasy and ignored it. I was in the front seat due to my weak stomach.

We got back to Mystic Falls in the morning. I did definitely like the no hangovers part of being a vampire. Elena seemed to be feeling it.

"So why did you bring me?" Elena asked with a smile.

"Well I didn't want to turn around and you're not the worst company in the world." Damon explained.

"Let's just go back to the boarding house." I declared. I knew that Elena would have to talk to Stefan and something told that kiss might come up.

Once I got home, Rachel was dressed in a white sundress with black polka-dots on it. She immediately wrapped me in a tight hug. You know, I was pretty sure that we hadn't ever been that far apart.

"So did anything interesting happen here while I was gone?" I asked.

"We are not changing the subject. You are going to tell me why you left the state to go somewhere with Damon." She replied.

"Well, first, it wasn't willingly." I pointed out. "Second, Damon's trying to find out other ways to get into the tomb, even though the witch that he asked didn't know anything about it. I didn't mean to make you worry about me, but I'm fine."

I then walked towards my room, but not before hearing Stefan tell Elena she was adopted.

So Brandy told them. Is it going to make things different for her and Elena? Will Elena kissing Damon come up again? Please don't forget to review.


	13. Unpleasantville

Elena and I were in my room on a Wednesday night. I was really glad that we were friends because it was nice to not to have to spend all of my time with Rachel and I also had someone to hang around when Rachel went on dates.

"So do you have any idea who that man in the road was?" She asked.

"I only saw as much as you did and I probably wouldn't know him anyway." I pointed out. "I think you really need to be careful and you should never take your necklace off again. Who knows what Damon would have if I hadn't been there. Okay, probably nothing, but he could have done something."

"I still can't believe that I kissed him." She groaned. "Was I thinking?"

"Probably that you wanted to get back at Stefan for lying to you." I suggested. I then pulled out a box of vervain. "This is vervain. It's the same stuff in your necklace."

"How does vervain work anyway?" She questioned.

"You can put it in food or drink or jewelry. I even made a nice manly bracelet for Jeremy." I explained. "Just know as long as it's in you or on you vampires can't get into your head. It's complicated but trust me, you want it. I also have something else for you."

"This is Jeremy's watch. How did you get it?" She asked as she looked it over.

"Logan must have stolen it from him and Damon stole it from Logan and I stole it from him." I answered.

"Why does it look different?" She inquired.

"It's more than just a watch." I told her as I noticed that the needle was pointing my way. "It's also a compass that points to vampires. As long as you have it, vampires can't sneak up on you."

"So, Jeremy and I were going to get some pizza." She stated. "Do you wanna come over."

"I think I'll be fine staying here." I replied. "Thanks for the offer."

The following morning, I was wearing a leather jacket over a white cami over a black tank with turquoise jeans with black heels. Rachel was beside me wearing a denim jacket over a black tee with a navy pleated miniskirt and matching flats with gold rectangular hoop earrings. We met up with Stefan and prepared to leave before we heard stuff being thrown around. We went into the study and we found Damon tearing up the bookcase.

"What are you looking for?" Stefan asked.

"It's nothing you should be concerned with." Damon replied without looking at us.

"You took Elena and Brandy across state lines and put them in harm's way, so it is my concern." Stefan remarked.

"We had fun before that witch double-crossed me." Damon stated.

"You know it's obvious. You're jealous because I get to be with the one and poor Katherine is just out of reach." Stefan replied. I was a bit surprised that Damon didn't just tell him about the kiss right there. "Unless she isn't, that is. You're looking for another way into the tomb. Is that way Bree said?"

"You're pathetic when you're fishing." Damon commented.

"And you're transparent when you're deflecting." Stefan responded.

"Don't you kids have school?" Damon asked.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the whole tomb thing. On one hand, it wasn't like a bunch of desiccated vampires could just walk out of the tomb, so it would be easy to get Katherine out. On the other hand, I wasn't sure if Katherine deserved to get out because Stefan didn't seem to have one night thing to say about her.

At lunch, I watched as Elena gave Caroline a necklace with vervain in it. She probably did need it more than anyone after all that Damon did to her.

"So you know there's this 50s dance coming up." Rachel told me. "Did you think that you were going to bring a date?"

"It would probably be a bad idea." I explained. "Honestly, this doesn't seem like it's the best place for dating."

"I've found a few hot guys." She replied.

"You know going out with different guys is a good way to earn a bad reputation." I commented.

"I haven't had sex with anyone yet." She stated. "I probably need to do because I am getting really horny."

"I'm actually a bit surprised that you haven't tried to have sex with Damon yet." I commented.

"He's really too much of an ass to be my type." She explained.

"Didn't you sleep with Frank Lucas?" I asked.

"Yes, but I didn't have to see him again." She pointed out. "So did you know that Adam Lambert used to be on TV?"

"No I didn't know that." I declared. It didn't seem too important.

"Yeah, he was on _Lizzie McGuire." _She explained.

"That was Adam Lamber_g."_ I pointed out. "They're different people."

"Well maybe you should ask Tyler to be your date. You could even go as friends." She suggested. "You are friends with him, right?"

"Yeah, but I still don't want to go on a date with him, even as friends." I explained. "Besides, if he gets too close to me, secrets could come out and I don't know how he'll handle that, especially since his parents are in charge of the Founder's council. Now I think we should probably get to class."

After school, Bonnie and I went with Elena to the Grill where Elena told us what she had learned. Well she more told Bonnie since she knew that I knew.

"I can't believe that you're adopted." The witch remarked.

"It gets weirder." Elena explained. "I checked my birth certificate and it says Grayson and Miranda Gilbert on it."

"I don't really think that's all that weird." I commented. Both of them looked at me. "Your dad was a doctor, so he could probably put any name that he wanted on there. So were you gonna try to find your real parents?"

"I don't know." She answered. "I do know that I need to get some extra accessories for my outfit for the dance. So what were the 50s like?"

"I was a kid during the 50s." I pointed out. I looked at Elena, asking with my eyes if she told Bonnie. She nodded. "And I was a boy back then."

"So what was the hardest part about changing like that?" Bonnie asked.

"Well I didn't really get to experience any of the hard parts." I explained. "I was a vampire before morning, so I didn't have to deal with a period or anything. It did take me a while to get used to being short. Luckily, I could jump higher if I needed to."

After we were done, I decided to go down the street where I saw Anna.

"Hey." I greeted her. "So I'm sorry for accusing you of killing that person. I don't know if you know who the vampire was."

"Who was it?" She asked.

"Logan Fell." I answered. "What were you talking to him about?"

"I was talking to him about being on the news." She replied. "I think I would make a good reporter."

"You probably would." I agreed. "You look like you'd be great at getting the news. So are you going to the dance?"

"Yeah, I was thinking about it." She stated. At that moment, I got a text from Elena simply reading 'SOS'. "Well I should probably go. I'll see you there."

I went home and found that Elena was there. She was shaking.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The man in the road called me." She explained. "Why would he call me? I felt like I was in _Scream._ I don't understand why he would call kill me instead of attacking."

"We're predators, Elena." Stefan stated. "For some the thrill of the hunt is just as satisfying as the kill."

"We're not going to let him hurt you." I assured her.

"It sounds like something Damon would do." She replied.

"No, Damon tires of theatrics too easily." Stefan corrected. "He just likes to kill people at random when he's trying to kill people."

The following night, I was wearing a leather jacket over a white camisole with a white pleated swing skirt and silver 50s heeled sandals. Rachel wore a gold strapless gown with green lace at the top and a pearl choker with white heels. We first met with Stefan who had a book in hand and he took that book to Damon.

"Why are you giving me Dad's journal?" Damon asked.

"I don't know." Stefan replied. "Maybe you were looking for it. Why don't you read it? I have. In nowhere does it say anything about Katherine, the tomb, or how to open it."

I would think that would involve their father knowing about the tomb, which I didn't think he would.

"I'm not surprised. The man could barely spell his own name." Damon replied. I couldn't spell t either.

"I'm really sorry that our father couldn't help you." Stefan declared. No he wasn't. "I could though. We all could."

I actually did kind of want to help him. Maybe Stefan just gave Katherine a bad rap.

"Why would you do that?" Damon challenged.

"I'd do anything to get you out of this house, even get Katherine back." Stefan explained.

"What about the other 26 vampires?" Damon asked.

"No, they have to stay, but Katherine I'll consider." Stefan declared. I couldn't help but be confused by him.

"What's your angle?" Damon questioned. I would have liked to know the same thing.

"Just consider it." Stefan suggested. "I have to go meet Elena."

"Why should I trust you?" The older brother replied.

"You really should trust people more." Stefan responded before the three of us went out the door.

When we got to the house, I couldn't help but notice that the door was open and that generally was not a good sign. I rushed inside and found the vampire was about to bite into Elena's neck. I shoved him away and he ran out the door.

"How the hell did that guy manage to get in here?" I questioned.

"He was the pizza guy." Elena remarked.

"I'm calling Damon." Stefan replied. Shortly after, Damon had arrived.

"How did he get in?" He asked.

"He was invited." Elena repeated.

"He posed as a pizza guy." I added.

"Well he gets points for that." Damon commented. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"No, he was too busy trying to eat me." She snapped.

"So you don't know this guy?" Rachel asked.

"Why does everybody think I know this guy?" Damon replied in frustration. "I don't have any friends, remember?"

"Well how many of them do you think they are?" Elena questioned.

"We don't know." I replied.

"Damon, he's been invited in." Stefan declared.

"Then we should kill him tonight." Damon proposed. He then looked at Elena. "Are you up for it?"

"What do I have to do?" She asked.

"Let your boyfriend take you to the dance." Damon explained. "Rachel, would you like the honor of being my date?"

"I'm good." Rachel responded. I couldn't help but giggle.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Stefan asked.

"Stefan, as long as this vampire is alive, this house isn't safe and that covers more than just Elena." I told him.

"Let's do it." Elena remarked. It looked like we were getting ready for some good old-fashioned murder. I hoped that we would do it without getting blood on my skirt.

We then went to the school. I didn't know what I was expecting, but the dance was pretty generic. They could have at least gone for a better theme: like a diner. Not to mention the song that was playing was from the 60s. I wanted some Rock-n-Roll.

Stefan, Damon, and Rachel began to look around while I stayed with Elena. I still had barely seen the guy. I remembered the hoodie. We walked over to Bonnie and Caroline.

"Having fun?" Elena asked them.

"No, but this took two hours to put together, so I'm at least staying half that." Caroline explained.

"What's Damon doing here?" Bonnie inquired.

"He wanted to come." I replied.

"So is this some of threesome now?" Caroline questioned.

"No, but if I'm going to date Stefan and be friends with Brandy, I need to learn to deal with Damon." Elena pointed out. "It's not like I can kill him."

"There's a thought." Bonnie replied.

"I'll help." The blonde declared as she clanked her class against Bonnie's.

Not that long after Damon went over to the two of them and asked them to dance at which caused both of them to walk away.

"Your ability to drive women away impresses me." I commented.

"I was a perfect gentleman." He argued. "Brandy, would you like to dance?"

"Yes, but not with you." I responded. It would be too weird. I wished that there was someone for me to dance with. I sighed and went to the other side of gym.

"Why are you so upset?" Tyler asked. He was dressed in a letterman jacket and jeans.

"I wanna dance, but there's no one to dance with." I commented.

"I'm somebody." He declared.

"I thought you didn't dance." I remarked.

"I never said that I don't. I'm just not very good, which is why I'm letting you lead." He stated as he took me to the dancefloor.

It did feel nice in his arms as we moved to the music.

"So do you know how to swing dance?" He asked.

"I do." I declared as I instructed him what to do. It was kind of fun. I really had not expected to have any fun on the dancefloor.

"You know you're awfully good at this." He commented.

"Maybe I just studied the moves to get ready for the dance." I offered.

I decided that after a little while, I was done dancing and got some punch. I stood by Stefan and Elena and noticed that Damon had found a dance partner. The song that they were playing definitely from the 60s, though.

"You can't take him anyway, can you?" Elena asked. I couldn't help but giggle. She then got a more serious look on her face. I had a pretty good idea what it meant. "Guys, look in the back corner."

There was a guy in a hoodie. He started to walk out and both Stefan and I followed after him. Stefan grabbed him and threw him up against a locker.

"What did I do?" A very confused teenager asked.

"Where is he?" I questioned.

"Some guy gave me this hoodie and told me to put it on." He explained. He must have been compelled.

"Stefan, it was a diversion." I replied. "_Forget seeing us_."

We went back to the gym and grabbed Damon and Rachel before we started to look around for Elena. I couldn't believe that he had tricked us.

We began to run around before we ended up in the cafeteria. The guy ran at me and I knocked him to the ground.

"Hey Dickhead." Damon remarked. "No one wants to kill you. We just want to talk."

No, we wanted to talk, and then kill him. He didn't seem to fall for it and charged at Elena. Damon tossed me a broken mop and I stabbed him through the stomach. He fell to his knees in pain.

We were able to get some information out of him, but much. We found out that he was trying to open the tomb. I didn't think that he was alone, but he wouldn't tell who he was working with. He told us that Emily Bennett's grimoire could be used to open the tomb, which was apparently the same thing that Bree had told Damon and that we could find the location by checking Jonathan Gilbert's journal. Of course we didn't know where that journal was at the moment. After he was done talking, we killed him. I stabbed him straight in the heart.

"We didn't get a chance to find out who he was working for." Elena pointed out.

"Elena, he was invited in." Rachel reminder her. "We had to kill him."

At that point, I noticed that Mr. Saltzman was there. I wasn't sure how much of that he had witnessed.

"Go." I told Damon. I was pretty certain that he would just compel him.

Afterwards, I stood with Damon and Stefan as we planned our next move. Rachel ended up going home with some guy. I hoped that she wouldn't bite him.

"So I don't think that there is any chance that this idiot could have been working alone." Damon stated. It was probably true.

"You were, so why couldn't he be?" Stefan challenged. "So do want some help finding this grimoire? You were hoping Dad's journal would tell you where it is, but you checked the wrong man's diary. I'm still willing to help you, you know."

"There's obviously a catch." Damon stated.

"No catch. We'll get the grimoire, open the tomb, get Katherine and leave the rest." Stefan offered. It still seemed a little too good to be true to me.

"Why should I trust you?" Damon asked.

"Because I'm brother and I want you gone." Stefan declared. "I know you won't do that without her."

I then went to Elena in the parking lot.

"So I know that the house is safe right now, but do you want to sleep over by any chance?" I asked. "I have a feeling that Rachel won't be home tonight."

"Okay sure." She declared before we headed back to the house.

So they get closer to opening the tomb. Elena's going to be sleeping over at the boarding house. You know Damon will have jokes for that. Please don't forget to review.


	14. Children of the Damned

1975

Rachel and I were at the club in our punk gear. We both loved the punk style even though in hindsight, it seemed like a big mistake. The music was probably better than the clothes. It always got us nice and turned on and we needed to find some boys to help us. I had already lost what I liked to call my girl virginity and no longer had problems around boys.

I noticed a man with curly blonde hair across the bar and smiled at him.

Present

I woke up in my bed with Elena at my side. It was definitely different from having Rachel there. Elena had longer legs.

"Good morning." She greeted me.

"Hey." I replied.

"Rise and shine, you two." Damon declared.

"Damon, what the fuck?" I asked as I shot up and a blush covered my face.

"Oh stop being lezzy." He stated. That made me blush even more.

"Get out of my room." I ordered.

"If I see anything I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." He remarked. I supposed it could have been worse. We could have slept in our underwear. I was pretty sure that he didn't actually think that we had had sex with each other. "Now get up. We have much to do today."

"Does it have to be right now?" Elena asked as she pulled the covers up.

"If you want to give whoever else is in the race a leg up, then feel free." He suggested.

"Do we have any idea who this person is?" I questioned.

"No and I don't like that." He answered. "That means that we have to find the grimoire and to do that we have to find he journal. Since you are Elena _Gilbert, _you are on journal duty."

"When did I say I was helping?" Elena replied.

"Well Brandy's helping and you've taken up residency in her bed so ergo…"He declared.

"You know you don't have to help if you don't want to." I assured her.

"I'll look for it today." She declared. "What is a grimoire anyway?"

"It's a witch's cookbook." Damon explained.

"Each spell that a witch casts is unique and to remember them, they wrote them down." I told her, basically relaying what Rachel had told me.

"Exactly, it's a cookbook." Damon reiterated.

"What about our mystery vampire this the idiot from last night wasn't working alone?" I asked

"I don't like that, so you need to get up." Damon ordered. "We have much to do today. Chop, chop."

"So do you want to shower here?" I asked her.

A little bit later, I was in the kitchen and Stefan was there. I noticed that Rachel was back and she was wearing a tan leather jacket over a purple sweater with lilac jeans and tan boots. I was wearing a white blouse and jeans with a tan fedora and leopard print sneakers.

"So we have to find the journal." I declared.

"We should probably check my house for it." Elena replied. She looked at Rachel. "Are you okay if we leave you here?"

"Sure." She answered. "But whenever you find out where the grimoire is, I'm going with you. I might be able to help read it."

Stefan, Elena and I then headed back to her house. We found a box of old stuff that was in the attic. There was a weird metal contraption.

"Is this what I think it is?" Elena asked. It looked like a muzzle.

"The Gilberts were one of the Founding Families that wanted to rid the town of vampires." He explained as he held up the muzzle. "Jonathan Gilbert was one of the leaders of the charge."

"What are you guys doing with all of this stuff?" Jeremy asked as he entered the kitchen.

"We were looking through some old stuff." Elena answered. "So, Dad had this old journal."

"Jonathan Gilbert's?" He asked as he took a seat on the counter. I had a feeling Jenna wouldn't like that.

"Yeah, have you seen it?" I responded.

"I just did a history paper on it." He explained. That was convenient.

"Where is it now?" Elena questioned.

"I gave it to Mr. Saltzman." He answered. It looked like Stefan and I would have to get it from him. We would do it by force if necessary.

As we were walking to the school, I couldn't help but wonder what the vampires in the tomb were like. There was no way that all of them could have been bad. Some of them may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

1975

I looked across the bar, but I decided not to approach the man. At that point, the bartender put a glass of what appeared to be blood in front of me.

"This is from the man at the end of the bar." He remarked as I noticed his bleeding wrist. I couldn't help but smirk before I took a small sip from it. He obviously noticed that I was a vampire. It was probably because of my ring. I still decided that I would wait for him to come to me first.

"Are you just gonna sit there?" I asked.

"I was wondering how you would react to it first." He declared as he walked over. He had a British accent, what kind I didn't know.

"You should know that I'm not looking for anything serious." I told him.

"I'm not really a fan of seriousness myself." He replied. "So what's your name, Little Vampire?"

"Brandy." I remarked. "Now you have to tell me yours." I pointed out.

"Call me Nik." He declared.

Present

The two of us walked through the school. I couldn't help but wonder if someone else was here. I wasn't even sure if he would be here.

The two of us headed into his room to notice that he wasn't there. Within a few seconds, he returned with a weapon in his hand and stake flew right by me and Stefan caught in his hands. I took some deep breaths.

"You shouldn't have done that." Stefan declared before he grabbed the weapon of the teacher's hand and threw him hard against one of the desks.

"Okay, guys that's enough." I declared as I stepped between the two of them. "No one needs to get hurt here. We just want to talk."

"What is this? Compressed air?" Stefan asked. "Did you make this yourself? Who are you?"

"I'm a history teacher." Mr. Saltzman answered. Stefan scoffed. He was a history teacher. "I'm also a historian and through my research, I've discovered some things about your town."

"So now you're Van Helsing?" Stefan retorted. "Who are you?"

"My wife was a parapsychologist." He answered. "She spent her life researching paranormal activity in this area. Her work led me here."

"Where is she now?" I inquired.

"She's dead. A vampire killed her." He declared.

"Look, you can't go taking it out on all of us." I pointed out. "We want to know where Jonathan Gilbert's journal is."

"Why do you want it?" The teacher questioned.

"Where is it?" Stefan asked with a stern look on his face.

"It's my desk." Mr. Saltzman said.

"No it's not." I responded. He looked at his empty desk.

"Well it was on my desk." He told us.

"I should probably get going." I remarked. "Can you two please try not to kill each other while I'm gone?"

1975

"So tell me, Love, when were you turned?" Nik asked.

"It was nearly 11 years ago." I answered. "So have you ever met the Beatles?"

"Of course I did." He answered. "They were the best part of that wretched decade. If I can find all of them, I'm thinking about compelling them to get back together."

"You know that's morally wrong." I commented.

"It's not wrong if that more of the wonderful music." He pointed out. "You can't possibly say that their new music is as good as when they were together."

"Well I think that 'Imagine' and 'Maybe I'm Amazed' are good songs." I stated.

"Yes, but do either of them compare to 'Yesterday' or my personal favorite 'I Saw Her Standing There'?" He asked.

"Okay, you have a point there." I agreed. "But still do you have to compel them to do it? Aren't there other ways to get them back together?"

"None as easy as that." He commented. "I suppose I could threaten them."

"So do you wanna get out of here?" I asked.

"I was wondering when you'd ask." He stated.

Present

I headed back to the Gilbert house and noticed that Damon was there and so was Rachel. Elena entered the kitchen at the same time that I did. She looked about as confused as I was.

"Hey, we're making dinner." Jenna declared. It looked like Damon and Rachel were doing all of the cooking and she was…supervising and drinking some wine. "I was just telling Rachel about all of the losers that I've dated."

"That's one of the reasons why I don't really date." I explained. "There are too many losers in the world."

I noticed that Jeremy was sitting on the couch and playing some video games. I decided to sit next to him.

"So what are we playing?" I asked him as I took a controller.

"I didn't know that you played video games." He commented.

"Yeah, I love video games." I responded as I noticed that his phone was ringing. He seemed like he was trying to ignore it. "Are you gonna get that?"

"No, it's this girl who's basically stalking me." He replied as I saw the name Anna on the screen.

"Anna gave you her number?" I questioned. "I want it."

"You know her?" He asked.

"I've come across her a few times." I replied. "I'd actually like to hang out with her sometime."

"Well maybe you can answer next time she calls me." He quipped. I just rolled my eyes at that.

We didn't have a lot of time to play because the dinner was done soon after. I looked over to Elena and Damon who were arguing about something.

"That move was deliberate." She told him.

"I was deliberately trying to get to the sink." Damon responded. "So this new sense of family between me, Stefan and Brandy, is any of it real?"

"Yes." Elena remarked.

"Can I trust them?" He asked. "More importantly, can I trust Stefan?"

"You can trust him." She replied as she began to head to the table. He then sped in front of her.

"Can I trust him?" He asked again, but slower.

"I'm wearing vervain." She pointed out. It didn't look like he was trying to compel the answer out of her to me.

"I'm not compelling. I just want an honest answer." He replied.

"Why wouldn't you trust him?" She questioned.

"Well there was a time when I trusted him more than anyone." Damon explained.

1975

I took Nik to Rachel and I's new place in Midtown. It was a big city, but we still thought it was a good idea to move every few years.

"So no human resident I see." He commented as he looked around and noticed the various records that were scattered around. "You like Elton John?"

"I think that he has good music even though he's not really good-looking." I replied. "My friend Rachel and I own a record store a few blocks from here."

"Well I suppose there are perks to that." He remarked. "I've also heard that Mr. John prefers men over women."

"How about we just stop talking and go to my room?" I questioned.

Present

After dinner, we still hadn't heard from Stefan. I couldn't help but wonder what was taking so long. At the time, Damon was playing with Jeremy and the rest of us were doing the dishes.

"Your cousin is so hot." Jenna remarked. I was pretty sure that he had heard that.

"Shh, he's an ass." Elena replied.

"So have you told Jeremy about it yet?" She asked Elena.

"I will, I promise." Elena answered. "I just need to find the right way to do it."

At that moment, the doorbell rang and the four of us headed outside.

"That's Stefan." I remarked. We went outside and noticed that he still didn't have the journal with him. Why was he there so long then?

"He didn't have it. Someone stole it." Stefan explained.

"Who took it?" Damon asked. "I bet he does have it and just won't give it to you. There's something off about him."

"No, it wasn't him." Stefan declared. "Someone else got to it before we could."

"Who else knows about it?" Damon questioned. He then looked at Jeremy inside.

"Damon, no." Elena ordered.

He did though. He went inside and brought up the journal and it turned out that he told Anna about it. I wanted to believe that she didn't want to open the tomb and she hadn't taken it. I knew that I didn't know her, but I still didn't think that she was dangerous. It was in her eyes that she wasn't evil. Damon took Jeremy to see her.

"Shouldn't you be going with him?" Elena asked.

"I don't have to, I already have it." Stefan replied as he pulled some papers out of his pocket. "Mr. Saltzman made a copy and he was gracious enough to give it to me."

"Okay, let's find out where the spell book is." I remarked as I took some of them. We began to read before I noticed something about Emily. "Here we go. I found it. The Fells thought it should I and not them who took the sorceress's spell book but I feared that she would haunt me from the hereafter. It was Giuseppe Salvatore that relieved my fear. He said that he would take the secret to his grave."

"I know where it is." Stefan declared.

1975

I woke up in the morning and he was gone. I may not have been looking for anything serious, but I wasn't exactly looking for a one-night stand either. I supposed that it was for the best. I didn't want anything more, even with another vampire.

Present

Stefan, Rachel, and I headed out to his father's grave. Because it wasn't built when he died, he was buried off a country road instead of the Salvatore family crypt.

"So why isn't your dad buried with the rest of Brandy's family?" Rachel asked him.

"The crypt wasn't built yet." I explained.

"You know I can do this alone." Stefan replied.

"Trust me, you want my help." Rachel declared as we began to dig for it. "So what were you planning on doing with it?"

"I want to destroy it so it can't be used to open the tomb." He explained.

"Don't you think that's a little bit extreme?" I asked as we finally hit a wooden box. We opened it and there was a skeleton holding a book. We took it out and handed it to Rachel who opened it.

"Well what do you know?" Damon asked. "This is an interesting development."

"I'm sorry but I can't let you open that tomb." Stefan replied.

"And I'm sorry for too, for thinking that even for a second that I could trust you." Damon responded.

"You are not capable of trust." Stefan argued. "The fact that you're here means that you read the journal and were planning on doing it by yourself."

"Of course I'm doing it by myself because the only one that I can count on is me!" Damon shouted. "You made that clear a long time ago, but you on the other hand had me fooled. You know you better not try to destroy that book."

"I didn't know what he wanted to do with it." I admitted.

At that point, Rachel gave the book to Stefan. Damon responded by grabbing me by the neck.

"Give me the book, Stefan." Damon demanded

"You won't kill her." Stefan remarked. He then let me go and grabbed Rachel instead and plunged his hand into her chest, near her heart.

"But I will kill her." Damon argued. "Give me the book now."

"Give him the book, Stefan." I declared.

"Let her go first." Stefan told him.

"I'm not going to trust you." Damon replied.

"Then trust me." I declared as I took the book from Stefan. He let go of Rachel and I handed the book to him. The first thing that I did was give her a tight hug. Damon then ran off into the night.

"You know he's going to need a witch to cast the spell to open the tomb and I doubt Bonnie will or can do it." Rachel remarked.

"I think we should just go home right." I replied.

"Well I'm going to go tell Elena about it." Stefan said before he ran away.

"I love you." I told Rachel. "I feel like I don't tell you that enough."

"I love you too, but I'm fine." She replied. "Remind me to tell Damon that he owes me a new sweater. Now let's go home."

So the big thing about this chapter is the revelation that Brandy slept with Klaus. That will definitely make things interesting later on. Please don't forget to review.


	15. Fool Me Once

I did not get a good night's sleep. Around the same time that I got home, I found out from Stefan that Anna had kidnapped Elena. It seemed that she did want to get inside of the tomb. Stefan and I had basically searched for her all night to no avail. We couldn't find where she was hiding.

"Stefan, it's 3 AM and I am exhausted." I stated. "I don't think that we're going to find her. I can tell you that Elena is probably safe. Elena wouldn't be dumb to kill her because she knows that we'd have to retaliate and could get messy. Plus then she'd have no leverage. So why does she want to open the tomb anyway?"

"Her mother is inside of it." He explained.

"Did you know her?" I questioned.

"She was Katherine's best friend." He answered. "Though, to my knowledge, she wasn't actually killing anyone."

"We should try to get a little bit of sleep and we can look some more in the morning." I suggested.

I headed home and got into bed where Rachel was already asleep. I began to think that now that we had two reasons to open the tomb, the best solution would probably be just to open it. I still thought that kidnapping aside, Anna was a good person. I'd never talked to her about it, but to me it seemed like she was willing to do anything to get her mom back. I would have to rethink whether or not I wanted to be friends with her, but I really wanted to her side of the story before I came to a decision.

In the morning, I woke up and changed into a pair of jeans with a green long-sleeved tee and black boots with a white headband. Rachel walked me to the living room wearing a navy floral dress with a denim jacket and sunglasses with tan boots.

"Anna took Elena." Stefan told his brother.

"You're saying this like I care." Damon pointed out. "I also already knew it from the one hundred texts that you sent me."

"Come on, Damon, we need to find her." I remarked.

"I know that you saw Anna last night. You must know where she's staying." Stefan said. "Please tell me where she is for Elena's sake. Please."

"I say this sincerely." Damon replied as he grabbed Stefan's shoulders. "I hope that Elena dies."

So, it seemed like Damon could really hold a grudge. He didn't seem to know that I actually wanted to open the tomb or care. It seemed like he thought that because I was with Stefan, I had the same agenda as him, which was not true. I really didn't even know that Stefan wanted to destroy the book until last night. Even if he hadn't wanted to give it to Damon, that still wasn't a reason to destroy it, especially because they were probably other spells that we might be able to use in there at some point.

I wondered if I could use reasoning to figure out where she was. It was quite possible that she was in some sort of private residence, but she would need a boarder to keep vampires out and that would involve a lot of work.

Before I could get anywhere, Stefan's phone rang.

"It's Elena." He stated. "Elena, where are you? Are you okay?"

"She's fine." Anna answered. "Tell me that you have the grimoire and she'll stay fine."

"It's in the house." Stefan told her.

"Which means that your brother has it." Anna deduced. "Well I have the witch, so you better send someone to the very public town square with the book in hand. We can discuss how much fun it's going to be to work together. Bye."

We then noticed that Damon was standing in the doorway with a smug look on his face. It looked like to me that he didn't actually want to open the tomb anymore. I couldn't understand why. Was he going to give up on his goal just because we hurt his feelings?

"Go ahead, grovel." Damon instructed. "Oh wait, I just remembered that I don't care about what you have to say."

"Damon, quit being an asshole." Rachel told him.

"Rachel's right." I added. "I actually wanted to help you open the tomb because I want to do something to make you happy, but I also don't want you to take Katherine and leave because I'm actually starting to like you and I don't want you to go."

"Alright, then head to town square." He replied. "Go and meet her."

"I need the book then." I replied.

"I'm not giving it to you." He responded. "If you take it with, she could easily steal it from you, but she'll be there. Come back and we can discuss it."

"Why can't you do it yourself?" I asked him.

"Because you're the one who wants me to stay." He answered. I didn't understand his logic, but I supposed that I didn't have a choice. I was pretty sure that Stefan had gone out to look for her again. I grabbed my keys and headed out.

I began to walk there because it would give me more time to think about what to say to her. I wondered if I would be able to get her to open up to me when I got there. I had to figure out a way to convince her that she could trust me. There was also the possibility that she really was evil and I was stupid to trust her, but I didn't want to think that way. She just seemed lonely before. I wanted to believe that she really did have a heart.

Once I got to town square, I saw her. She was talking to Jeremy about something. The two of them seemed to like each other, but I doubted that Jeremy knew that she was a vampire. They would make a cute couple.

"Got a date tonight?" I asked her.

"Yes actually." She said. "Did you know that there's a party over by Fell's Church tonight? Isn't it nice of them to just open a buffet for all of the hungry vampires?"

"Can you just drop the tough girl act?" I requested. "I know what you want. Stefan told me that your mom is in the tomb. You want to get her out. Are you willing to risk letting the rest of them out just for her?"

"Yes." She answered. "But the truth in the matter is I don't care. I just want my mom."

"Is your mom going to go on a killing spree if you let her out?" I inquired.

"She's smarter than that." Anna replied. "I just want to get her and leave."

"Okay, I'll help you." I stated. "But I'd prefer that you didn't leave. I really haven't had the chance to get to know you."

"I guess I should tell you since it's pretty clear that you don't remember me." She commented. "It was 1964 in New York. I figured it out not long after I met you. Brandon Salvatore seemed to vanish without a trace, but suddenly there's a girl named Brandy Salvatore around."

"You're right. I don't remember you." I admitted.

"You were drunk at the time." She replied. "Now meet me at Fell's Church tonight."

I just had to find a way to convince Damon to let me do that. It shouldn't have been that hard to convince him because opening the tomb would also benefit him. I then realized that maybe I should have asked her to let Elena and Bonnie go. At least I knew that she definitely wasn't going to hurt them because would jeopardize the deal that we had just made.

However, no sooner than when I got up, I got a text from Stefan saying that he had Bonnie and Elena and he wanted to meet at Bonnie's grandma's house. There just one problem with that instruction.

"_I don't know where Bonnie's grandma lives." _I texted back. He then texted me the address. I supposed that it would work. I wasn't sure if he wanted Rachel to come or not. I decided to just go there because it would take less time. Once I got there, I rang the doorbell. A woman, who I wasn't sure was old enough to have a teenage granddaughter opened the door.

"Hi, I'm Brandy Salvatore." I introduced. "Stefan said that he was going to be here."

"Come in." She invited before I stepped into the house.

The house looked kind of nice. It didn't exactly look like an old witch's den. I kind of expected there to be some kind of cauldron or something. I knew that I had been to a witch's place before, but Rachel really didn't do any of that stuff. She also didn't look she could have afforded it even though I later found out that the store was quite successful. Of course it became more successful once both of us were vampires and could make people buy stuff.

"So what are we doing?" I asked. "I promised Anna that I would help her open the tomb to get her mother out. She doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"I think Brandy's right." Elena agreed. "Plus she'll probably leave and so will Damon, so we can kill two birds with one stone."

"Why don't we just kill her?" Bonnie asked.

"Because she's not bad." I argued. "Kidnapping probably wasn't the right move to make, but she's desperate. People do crazy and stupid things when they're desperate."

"Witches being pulled down by vampire problems." Bonnie's grandma muttered. "As much as we try to stay out, we keep getting pulled back in. I'll open the tomb and she can get her mom, but you need to destroy the rest with fire."

I had a feeling that Damon wouldn't like that part.

"We still need to get the grimoire from Damon." Stefan pointed out.

"Let me handle that." I declared. "I know that I can get it from him."

I then went back to the house. I knew that Damon wanted to talk to me anyway.

"So how did it go?" He asked.

"She wants to open the tomb tonight…and so does everyone else." I explained. "Stefan broke Bonnie and Elena free and they want to open the tomb too. So what do you say?"

"No." He stated.

"Damon, are you seriously going to ask like this just because you got your feelings hurt?" I questioned.

"I just don't know if I can trust you." He commented.

"Damon, I told you something that very few people know about me even though I knew that there was a possibility of you using some very inappropriate jokes regarding me, which I thank you for not using." I explained. "This is not a plan to trick you into giving me the book so we can destroy it. I really wanna open the tomb tonight."

"Fine let's drink to it." He declared as he gave me a glass of his bourbon. "You know I'll kill you and your friend if you betray me again."

"I didn't betray you last night." I reminded him. After I finished the glass, I couldn't help but feel a bit tipsy. "I think it would be best if you drove us there. I'll go get Rachel."

The three of us then headed to the church and it turned out that the stuff about there being a party there was actually true. Who would have an outdoor party on in a cemetery on a cold December night?

"Why are these people here?" Rachel asked.

"It's some kind of party." I replied. "Can you please try to keep people from going where they don't belong?"

At that point, Caroline walked over holding Matt's hand.

"Hey, I was glad that you guys could make it." She replied with a smile. Were her and Matt together or something?

"We haven't met, I'm Matt." The quarterback greeted him Damon as he held his hand out.

"Matt, there's a reason we haven't met." Damon replied as he grabbed my hand. "Let's go, Brandy."

"Brother, witches, Elena." Damon greeted them. My vision was a little bit blurry. There was a reason that I did not drink whiskey.

"Are you drunk?" Bonnie asked.

"It was the only way that I could convince Damon to help me." I explained. "Let's just do this."

At that point, I smelled something delicious and realized that Damon had a bag of blood in his pocket.

"Why did you bring that?" I asked as he took it out.

"It's for Katherine." He explained. "I gotta have something to get her going. Admit it. You can't wait to get rid of me."

"I can't wait to get rid of you." Stefan remarked. I couldn't help but wonder if he really wanted to Damon to go or if he was just humoring him.

At that point, Bonnie's grandma began to cast the spell and Bonnie was repeating after her. It looked a little bit like a child who copied what they parent was doing and said that they helped.

"I'm gonna go get the flamethrower." Stefan replied. I couldn't help but wonder where we had gotten a flamethrower. I decided to follow him.

"Dark down there?" Some guy asked. He looked like he was trying to be threatening. I then noticed that he had Jeremy unconscious in front of him.

"Hey, hero." Anna said to Stefan. "I'm going in the tomb."

"Okay." I replied. She went down and I noticed the guy tried to look menacing. It was like a cat that thought it was a tiger. It was kind of adorable. Nevertheless, I grabbed a branch off the ground and threw right into his heart.

"Take Jeremy home." I instructed Stefan.

I then headed back into the tomb. I assumed that Damon had already gone inside and taken Elena with him. Also Anna seemed to have gone in as well. I then heard Elena scream, and rushed in before I could even hear Bonnie's protest.

I found Anna feeding her to one of the vampires, who actually looked more like zombies. I was going to assume that it was her mother.

"That's enough." I remarked.

"Fine." Anna replied as she handed Elena to me. I then saw color start to return to the woman's skin and I got confirmation that it was her mother.

"Annabelle." She said weakly. I saw tears come to the young vampire's eyes as she went to give her mom a hug.

"Are you okay?" I asked Elena.

"I think I am." She remarked. "You know I don't think that I can be mad at her."

It probably would have taken a heart of stone not to get misty-eyed upon the reunion between the two of them. I definitely had to wipe the tears away from my eyes. I was so glad that she had gotten what she wanted. I couldn't help but wonder how Damon would feel when he found Katherine. Speaking of which…

"Where's Damon?" I asked.

"He abandoned me as soon as soon as he came in." She explained. "Well go outside. I'll find him."

I began to look around and noticed that it wasn't working too well, so I decided start listening.

"SHE'S NOT HERE!" He shouted. I probably wouldn't have needed supernatural hearing for that. Did it actually mean that Katherine wasn't in the tomb? That didn't make any sense. Didn't Damon have Emily create the tomb just for Katherine. I decided to head over in the direction of his voice. I found the blood bag was splattered against the wall and Damon looked extremely confused. "How can she not be in here?"

"Damon, I don't know but we can't just stay in here." I declared. He seemed to be rambling incoherently. It made me want to cry for a different reason. I then swung my palm and slapped him. "Damon, snap out of it. We need to go."

He took my hand and walked out of the tomb with me. It was a good thing that we left when we did because the tomb sealed up as soon as we left.

"Where's Katherine?" Elena asked.

"She wasn't inside." I explained.

"I'm sorry." Elena remarked as she gave him a hug.

I decided that it would be a good idea for me to find Rachel. Where I found her was on top of a keg. I didn't expect her to get drunker than I was.

"Where have you been all night?" Tyler asked me.

"I had something that I needed to do." I declared. "Listen, I would love to stay and chat, but it looks like I need to get her home before she makes a decision that she'll regret in the morning."

"Do you need any help?" He questioned.

"I think that I've got it." I replied. I began to walk her back and I realized that it was harder to walk than I had anticipated. I almost fell over, but I felt Tyler catch me.

"It looks like you might have had too many as well." He commented. "I'm not drunk yet. At least let me give you a lift home.

"Tired." Rachel replied softly.

We put her down in the bed of his truck and I got in the front seat before he took me home.

"Thank you for doing this." I told him.

"It's no problem." He stated before he began to drive.

So it turns that Anna and Brandy had a thing when she was a guy. Also there was a nice scene with Tyler at the end. Please don't forget to review.


	16. A Few Good Men

It was Saturday and it was also 2010. Bonnie's grandma died from casting the spell and Damon was not taking things well with Katherine not being in the tomb. I actually wasn't sure if Anna was still in town or not. I hadn't seen her, but that didn't mean that she had left.

"So what do you want to do today?" Rachel asked after we woke up.

"I don't really have any plans." I replied as I grabbed a towel. "You know I'm really starting to get worried about Damon. He's been going through a bottle of bourbon a day."

"Wasn't he already doing that before this?" She questioned.

"No, he was only going through half a bottle a day." I pointed out before I got into the shower.

As I was washing myself, I couldn't help but wonder where Katherine was. Was she still alive? Had she been killed somewhere else? How did she manage to escape from being put in the tomb in the first place? These were all questions that I probably wouldn't be able to figure out the answers to.

I then came out and got dressed in a black cocktail dress with a translucent grey sweater over it and white pumps with a necklace. At that time, I noticed my phone was ringing. It was Elena.

"Hey." I greeted.

"Do you think you can come over?" She requested. "There's something that I need to talk to you about."

"I'll be right over." I promised.

As soon as I got there, I went to her room. I could immediately tell that something was not right.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Jenna did some digging about my adoption. She found out that my mother's name is Isobel and she has a friend named Trudie that lives around here. Also Mr. Saltzman's dead wife was named Isobel." She answered.

"Alaric's wife might be your mother?" I asked in disbelief. That sounded like something out of a soap opera. She also wouldn't appreciate the fact that Damon killed her.

"It can't be true, can it?" She responded. I had a strange inkling that it was. "I mean what are the odds of that? So I have Trudie's address."

"Were you going to go see her?" I inquired.

"I don't know. I don't want to know if my mother is dead." She admitted. "In that case, I'd just be better off with my dead adoptive mother."

"Did Jenna tell you about Alaric's wife or how she died?" I questioned.

"She said that she was murdered and they never found her body." She explained. She then noticed the look on my face. "Did you already know that?"

"When Stefan and I got the journal, he told us a little about her, him more than me." I answered. "I don't think that they're the same person, but if they are, he is not your father. I can go with you to see Trudie today if you want. I don't have any plans later."

"I don't think that I'm going to go." She stated.

"I should probably get going." I replied before I gave her a hug. "I need to check on Damon."

"How is he?" She questioned.

"He's dealing with a lot of booze." I answered. I hoped that he didn't kidnap a bunch of sorority girls for some kind of weird orgy.

When I got home, I found out that was exactly what he was doing. I turned the lights on and the music off.

"Damon, what the fuck is going on here?" I questioned. I couldn't help but wonder if Stefan had known anything about it.

"Greetings, Sis." He slurred. His eyes were closed as he held one of the slutty girls close. Apparently, I was his sister now.

"Can we talk?" I asked.

"Yes." He replied. He didn't seem to get it.

"I mean without the sorority girls." I clarified.

"Anything you say, you can say in front of them. They're really good at secrets." He declared. I crossed my arms. "Okay, sit tight, girls."

"You don't need to worry about me." He replied. It would be a lot easier to believe if I didn't smell enough alcohol to kill Kid Rock on his breath. "I've had one goal for the last 145 years: get in that tomb. Granted, Katherine wasn't inside, but I got in. I feel so free without a master plan. I can do whatever I want now."

"That's what worries me." I stated.

"Relax. I haven't killed anyone in…too long." He replied as I looked at the girls. "I'll put them back where I found them later. They'll have bad hangovers, but won't remember anything. But I'm betting that you're not here to talk about some girls. So, tell me what's on your mind, my quasi-sister?"

"I wanted to talk to you about as woman named Isobel." I replied. "She was in North Carolina at or near Duke University."

"Why are you interested in the women of my past?" He inquired.

"Did you kill her?" I asked.

"Probably, but I've killed a lot of people." He answered.

"Do you remember anything about her?" I responded

"This is like trying to find a hay in a needle stack." Damon slurred. He was really drunk.

"Well try to remember because it's important." I stated. He then grabbed on my shoulders.

"Nothing is important." He whispered into my ear. "Now I have to go exploit some women in the name of grief. Bye. TTFM said the Tri-Delt."

I left the room, trying to figure out what TTFM stood for. I sighed and exited the house. As soon as I got there, I found Stefan and Rachel. She was wearing a brown leather jacket over a black tank and jeans with black sneakers.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Grocery shopping." She answered. "There are some bags in the car. So how did things go with Elena?"

"They went okay." I answered. "Since when do the two of you go grocery shopping together?"

"Since the last time when got the wrong kind of laundry detergent." Stefan replied.

"I don't understand why you don't like Tide. It's the same as all of the others." Rachel remarked.

"It's not as good at getting blood out." Stefan explained.

"Well then you need to find a way not to get blood on your clothes." She argued. I had to say it was kind of amusing to see them argue like that. I kind of wanted to see them kiss, even though at the same time I didn't because I really liked Stefan and Elena together. "Brandy, I need you to back me up on this. I am right, aren't I?"

"I don't want to get in the middle of this." I stated. At that time, I got a text from Alaric. Apparently Stefan and I needed to meet him in town square right now. After a few seconds of putting things away, we headed there to meet the teacher. I couldn't tell if he was nervous to be around us or just cold.

"Thanks for meeting me." He stated. "Something's come up."

"What's going on?" Rachel questioned. I had a feeling it had to do with Elena.

"Jenna must have told you about Elena being adopted." Stefan commented. "So I guess it's true then. Isobel was Elena's mother."

"How much does Jeremy know?" He asked us.

"About your wife?" Stefan responded.

"About everything, you, your brother, everything." Alaric remarked.

"She knows what we are and she knows that you know about the vampires." I replied.

"Does she know that Damon killed her?" He questioned.

"Not at the moment." I told him.

"You two said you'd help me." He reminded us. I had to admit that his impatience with the matter was a bit irritating.

"We will." Stefan replied.

"I asked Damon about it without being too specific but he doesn't remember her." I stated.

"Ask him again." He ordered.

"Damon isn't exactly stable right now." I pointed out.

"He killed my wife. When has he ever been stable?" Alaric questioned. It probably was a good question.

"You shouldn't push this." I instructed.

"Name one good reason why I shouldn't." He challenged.

"How about the fact that Damon will kill you if you come at him?" Rachel suggested.

"We can handle it. Just give us some time." Stefan replied.

"So am I just supposed to let it go?" He asked. "Is that what you're going to tell Elena when she finds out."

"Don't bring up Elena again, or you'll be on your own in this." Stefan threatened.

"I just want to know what happened." Alaric stated.

"Do you have a picture we could show Damon?" I asked. He took a folded-up photograph out of his wallet and gave it to me. I hoped it would help.

After we were done, Rachel spoke.

"So what do you think happened to his wife?" She asked.

"I don't know. I really only agreed to help so he would give me the journal." Stefan told us.

"Do you think that he might have turned her?" I inquired.

"I doubt it." Stefan replied.

I wanted to go home from there. I really hoped that Damon would have cleared all of the college girls out. I really couldn't judge him if he was having sex with them, especially since I hadn't had sex since I had come here. It was pretty hard to deal with, but I wasn't going to just sleep with whoever I felt like. It usually took liquor. Not to mention Mystic Falls was a very small town.

As we headed home, I couldn't help but hope that Damon and the girls didn't make too big of a mess with the blood or whatever else they did, since I was the one who cleaned it. I swore I would never be able to make it as a housewife.

"So did you know that the Grill is having a bachelor raffle tonight?" Rachel asked.

"Wouldn't it be more profitable to have an auction?" I questioned as we headed into the house. "So what does this town have to offer as far as bachelors go? I haven't seen very many."

"I don't know, but I can't wait for it." She admitted.

"I don't think they'll let you buy a ticket for it." I remarked. She pouted. "You're the one who wanted to pretend to be seventeen years old."

"It looks like I have to find someone else to be with tonight." She reasoned.

"You know you don't have to be so slutty." I pointed out.

"True, but being slutty is much more fun." She declared.

"Well I think I'm just going to make a donation." I remarked. I couldn't help but wonder why the town was supporting what was basically prostitution. Maybe it was because sex wasn't guaranteed.

I decided that I should make myself look a little more presentable at the auction. I put on some jewelry and touched up my makeup. I couldn't help but notice that Damon was talking to Elena.

"Did you know that I am one of Mystic Falls's most eligible bachelors?" He asked. I assumed it meant that he was in the auction or whatever it was.

"Brandy, I need some help." Damon called. I sighed and came into the room and began to button Damon's shirt for him. Could he really be that drunk or was he just messing with me?

"I can't believe that I have dress my brother." I commented.

"You two aren't brother and sister." Elena pointed out.

"We might as well be." Damon stated. "So what did you do today?"

"I found out who my birth mother is." Elena said with a smile.

"Ugh, who cares?" Damon retorted. I hit his back. "She left you. Fuck her."

"You know he does bring up a good point." I admitted. At that point, Stefan came into the room.

"We should probably get going." Elena replied as she walked over to him. Damon then left the room. "Is he okay?"

"He's dealing with it in his own way." I repeated.

"Well maybe this heartache will help him remember that he has one." She commented.

"I wouldn't count on it." Stefan replied.

"So I went to see Trudie Peterson." She added. She then looked at me. "I know I shouldn't have gone without but she wouldn't have invited you in. She has vervain. She knew. I don't know how she found out, but she knew."

"I know." I declared. "Alaric's wife was your birth mother. Everything that he knows about vampires came from her and I wouldn't be surprised if she passed the info onto Trudie as well. I can tell you more about her, but we need a little more time."

The two of them then left and I went to talk to Damon.

"What are you still doing here?" He asked. '

"I can get to the Grill on my own." I pointed out as I reached into my pocket. "I have a picture of that woman I was talking about earlier."

I then took it out and showed it to him.

"Why are you so interested in this chick?" He asked.

"Did you kill her?" I asked.

"Who's asking?" He challenged.

"Me." I answered.

"Who else." He stated. "I don't see why we're having this conversation. The Real Housewives of Mystic Falls await."

You know I don't usually advocate murder, but whoever came up with that idea needed to be murdered.

Mrs. Lockwood was emceeing the raffle while the mayor was nowhere in sight. I couldn't help but wonder if he was out philandering somewhere. Maybe that was why a married woman was in charge of the event.

I met up with Elena at the Grill and we came across Matt and Caroline.

"He's been hit on by like 35 women." Caroline gushed. "He's total cougar bait."

"It's not funny, Care." He remarked with a blush. Yes it was.

"Hi, Mrs. Donovan." Caroline greeted. I didn't know that Matt's mom was in town. She didn't seem to like Caroline very much, but she seemed to love Elena.

"So who's this?" The woman asked.

"Brandy Salvatore, nice to meet you." I stated as I held out my hand. She shook it and Caroline frowned. "Elena maybe we should go find Stefan and get a table. I could really use something to drink."

Once the show started, I noticed that the bachelors were in fact pretty pathetic. They had the butcher, the plumber, and the guy that worked at McDonald's in Elkton. I still thought he was better off than the plumber.

After him was Alaric. I had to admit that it was pretty creepy to see Mrs. Lockwood fawn over a bunch of married men. I decided to just go out and that was where I found Tyler.

"Couldn't take it in there either?" He asked.

"The guys in there were a bit too old for me." I quipped. "So I wanted to thank you again for taking me and Rachel home the other night."

"Well you looked like you needed it." He stated before he pushed me back against the wall.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"If you want me to stop, just say so." He replied. He leaned in for a kiss and I leaned in. However before anything happened, the door swung open and I saw Elena storm out, followed by Stefan.

"I should probably see what that's about." I declared as I broke apart from him. I then headed over to them. Elena looked really upset.

"Damon killed my mother?" She asked. "Did you know about this?"

"Alaric said that they never found the body." I replied. "I was going to tell you, but I wanted to know more."

"I was feeling sorry for him." She said.

"Elena, this was two years ago." I explained. "He also didn't know that she was your mother."

"Why are you defending him?" She asked us.

"Because we're hoping that he'll change too." Stefan answered.

"That man…" She stated. I turned my head to see a shady-looking guy standing there. "I saw that man outside of Trudie Peterson's house this afternoon."

"We should get inside." I suggested.

I then found Damon and slapped him.

"What was that for?" He asked as he rubbed his cheek.

"You know that woman I was talking about? She was Elena's mother." I explained. "Do you wanna rub it in to her too?"

Elena and I then headed back outside and the man was still there.

"Hey!" I called to him. "Go away."

"I have a message for you." He told us.

"Who are you?" Elena asked.

"Stop looking." He replied. It was then that I really that he had been compelled. "She doesn't want to know you. Do you understand?"

"Isobel's a…?" She asked.

"Elena, he's been compelled.

"Do you understand?" He repeated.

"Yes." Elena replied.

"Good, I'm done now." He stated before he stepped into the road…and into traffic. She had compelled him to kill himself.

"We need to get out of here." I told her.

I took her home and then headed back to the house. I heard some kissing sounds coming from my room and realized that I would have to sleep somewhere else. I decided to think about the situation. I did believe that people should have a choice of wanting to be a vampire, but Isobel leaving her husband to become a vampire was not the right choice.

I rushed into the room, grabbed some pajamas and rushed out before I headed to one of the other rooms.

So Brandy and Tyler almost kissed. Also she and Damon are acknowledging that they're essentially brother and sister. Please don't forget to review.


	17. There Goes the Neighborhood

Stefan and I were standing next to Elena by her locker on a Friday afternoon. I was wearing a white-see through blouse with a white tank underneath and jeans with pink heels. I was still somewhat upset that Mr. Saltzman had tried to kill Damon and that Damon had killed him instead. Thankfully he had a magic resurrection ring.

"So have you thought about her?" I asked Elena.

"About Isobel, my vampire mother who was turned by your vampire brother, who is looking for his and Stefan's vampire ex? No, not at all." Elena remarked. I could tell that she was still mad about it.

"I'm sorry about all this." Stefan stated.

"You don't need to apologize for this." She explained. "I wanted to be part of this, but it would be nice if I could just get through a day where I didn't have to deal with any vampires."

"No vampires at all?" Stefan asked. He looked kind of hurt. I knew that wasn't what she meant.

"No vampires but the two of you." She corrected. "And probably Rachel."

"We should probably get going to class." Elena replied before the two of them kissed, which ended up turning me on a little. I was pretty sure that everyone was having sex but me.

Later in the day, I was with Rachel, who was wearing a black polka-dot sweater over a white blouse with black pants with these strange white things on them and hot pink heels. It was then we ran into her. She was back and she seemed to have put red streaks in her hair.

"So you're back in school." I declared.

"I'm not looking to cause any trouble." She explained. "My mom's probably talking to Damon right now. We just want to live here peacefully. If you can respect that, there won't be any problems."

"How do we know that you won't start killing people?" Rachel asked.

"Because she wants to make sure the place is safe for her boyfriend." I remarked in a teasing tone. "Oh right no one else knows that you and Jeremy are dating."

"Well it's only fair since no one else knows that you're dating Tyler Lockwood." Anna retorted. Rachel looked at me.

"We're not dating." I argued. "We're friends and we just almost kissed."

I'd pretty much been avoiding him ever since that because there were still things that I didn't want to tell him. I wasn't sure how anyone would understand. I wondered if transgender people dealt with similar feelings.

"You don't want to tell him your secrets, do you?" Anna asked.

"How do you know that she has multiple secrets?" Rachel responded.

"I might have slept with her." I explained. I then suddenly remembered my one lesbian encounter. "As a guy and a girl I think."

"So she's the girl that you slept with?" Rachel asked angrily "Why are you just telling me this now."

"I was really drunk that night." I explained. "I didn't remember that I did."

"Okay, not to interrupt this lover's quarrel, but I need to get to class." Anna remarked. That caused both of us to blush.

Later in the day, I was with Elena at her locker when Caroline came up to us.

"Hey, Elena. There's something that I need to talk to you about." She replied. "I was wondering if you and Stefan maybe wanted to go on a double date with me and Matt tonight."

"What did you have in mind?" Elena asked.

"We could go to the Grill for dinner and then maybe we could see a late movie or something." Caroline suggested.

"I'll have to talk to Stefan about it, but it sounds like it fun to me." The brunette stated. I supposed that it meant that I would have to find some other plans for the night. I knew that I didn't want to go out a date with Tyler. I couldn't help but wonder if Anna had any plans.

As we were heading home, I decided to talk to Stefan.

"So did Elena tell you that she wanted to go out tonight?" I questioned.

"Yeah, I think it would be good to let her do something normal for a change." He told me.

"Well it would probably be a good idea not to let her get drunk because she might kiss Damon again." I joked. I then realized what I had just said and covered my mouth.

"What?" He asked.

"I didn't say anything." I remarked.

"Did Elena kiss Damon when you were in Atlanta?" He replied.

"No, why would you think that?" I questioned.

"Brandy, tell me the truth." He stated. "Did Elena kiss Damon? Did he compel her?"

"He didn't need to compel her. She was drunk." I declared with a sigh. "She is the one who kissed him of her one free will."

I just hoped that Elena wouldn't hate me. I was not supposed to tell him that. I just hoped that they wouldn't break up because of it.

"Tell Elena that I don't think I'm going to be able to make it tonight." He declared. Well, I fucked up. I had a feeling that Elena was going to hit me.

I went over to her house and nervously rang the bell. It would probably be a good idea to make sure that she wasn't near any sharp wooden objects because I figured that she would be very angry. The door opened and I prepared to face the music.

"Brandy…I was expecting Stefan." She stated.

"Yeah, there's a slight problem with that." I remarked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Stefan's…not coming." I answered.

"Why not?" She asked me. "Did something happen?"

"I accidentally, possibly, maybe, might have…" I babbled.

"Spit it out!" She ordered.

"I kind of told him that you kissed Damon in Atlanta and now he's mad." I said quickly. I hoped that it would be too fast for her to hear but judging by the look of rage on her face I could tell that was not the case.

"You told him that?" She shouted. "How could you tell him that? It didn't even mean anything. I was drunk. What were you thinking?"

"I was trying to make a joke and it just slipped out." I explained. "Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry. I'm really, really, really, really, really, really sorry."

"You know saying really a bunch of times isn't going to make things better." She replied. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"You should probably call Caroline and tell her that you need to cancel." I suggested.

"No, there is no way that I'm cancelling." She explained.

"How can you go on a double date if you don't have a date?" I asked. I was pretty sure that Caroline wouldn't be too thrilled about her being their third wheel.

"Oh, I'm going to have a date." She replied. "Go upstairs and put on a dress. Since Stefan's not coming, you're going to be my date for the evening."

I gulped but decided to do what she said. I had never seen her look so angry before. It appeared to worse than when she found out that Damon killed Isobel.

I put on a baby blue lace long-sleeved and some black wedges. I didn't exactly know what Elena was going to ask of me. I'd never been forced to go on a date with a girl before. I'd never been forced to go on a date with anyone before. I could tell that we were going to be in for a very awkward night.

"Okay, I'm ready." I declared before we headed out to her car.

We then headed to the Grill and she grabbed my hand and took me inside. I couldn't help but sweat a little bit.

"Where's Stefan?" Caroline asked us.

"He couldn't make so Brandy is filling in for him." Elena explained.

"Well this is different." Matt commented.

"Let's just get a table." I suggested. It was definitely going to be an awkward night. "So, Matt how do you like working here?"

"It's not too bad." He answered. "The tips are pretty good. We can't seem to keep a bartender though."

That was one got arrested after Lexi compelled him to serve minors and the other was Ben.

"I recommended my mom for the position." He added. Did his mom know anything about bartending? It wasn't as easy as it looked.

"Did you know that Matt and I met when we were babies?" Elena replied. "Our moms were friends and we shared a crib."

We then heard the sounds of giggling and turned to see that Damon, Kelly, and Jenna were at the bar. I couldn't help but blush. I was right about it being an awkward night. I was more right than I thought.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Matt replied. I supposed it could have been worse. I wasn't sure how it could have been worse, but it definitely could have been.

After dinner, we headed over to the pool table. I had to admit that while the overall dining experience was bad, the food was pretty good. I was pretty sure that Elena expected me to order my steak rare. It got her funny looks from Matt and Caroline and I jokingly asked her if she thought that I was a vampire, which got them to laugh. In all honestly, I prepared my steak cooked because I didn't like animal blood. I also noticed that the so-called responsible adults were still boozing it up at the bar. They weren't setting a very good example.

"Well at least they're having fun." Caroline remarked facetiously.

"They're drunk." Elena pointed out.

"Hey, remember when we got really drunk here after Homecoming?" Matt asked.

"Yes." Caroline replied while laughing.

"Unfortunately, my parents were seated in the booth next to us and they spotted us, so I came with the idea to sneak away by pretending to be choking, but since he was a doctor, my dad jumped into action. I slipped on the floor as we tried to run and I got stitches, a massive hangover and I was grounded from seeing this one for a week." Elena explained.

At that point, Elena and Caroline went to the bathroom and I stayed with Matt to play pool.

"So how exactly did you get stuck coming here?" He asked.

"I may or may not have accidentally broken Stefan and Elena up." I explained. "I don't know what's going to happen with them, so don't say anything about it to Caroline."

"Okay." He replied as he banked another ball. "You suck at pool."

"I didn't really get a lot of chances to play where I used to live." I explained. Billiards were never really a priority when I went to bars.

Our dates then returned and I couldn't help but notice that Elena looked spooked.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'm fine." She stated before she showed me a text saying that a man had called her Katherine. I looked over and no one was there.

"Do you guys wanna get out of here?" I asked.

Elena and I got there first and waited in the driveway.

"So had you ever since this guy before?" I asked.

"No." She answered. "But he had to be a vampire if he knew Katherine. Maybe we should just send Caroline and Matt home."

"No, we can't be worried about every vampire." I explained. "Besides since the Grill was a bust, we can do something here. It'll be fine."

At that moment, I saw the lights behind us.

We went inside the house and Matt stared at it in awe.

"Wow, this place is amazing." He commented.

"I feel like I've been here before." Caroline remarked. I hoped it was just déjà vu.

"I suppose it is a bit big." I remarked. "People liked bigger houses when it was built and was a boarding house before I was born, so it was meant for a lot of people."

"Whoa, what's this?" Matt asked as he looked at the shelf. He grabbed a model car that Stefan made.

"That's Stefan's." I replied. "I don't know a lot about cars, but I do have something to show you. Just let go get something and meet me in the garage."

I had to take a break to get some blood. I downed the bag quickly before going to the garage.

Inside was Stefan's red 1963 Porsche 356B Karmann Coupe. It was a nice car, but it was nowhere near as good as mine.

"This is Stefan's car." I explained.

"Wow, why doesn't he drive this?" Matt asked in awe.

"It doesn't really…run." I answered.

"Why would you keep a car that doesn't run?" Caroline questioned.

"Could you be any more of a girl right now?" Matt replied. That was kind of insensitive. "Elena, remember that Camaro of your dad's?"

"If you want to take a look at it, you can." I suggested since I felt that I needed to separate him and Elena. "I can help."

Caroline and Elena exited and I opened the door and popped the hood before handing him a wrench.

"So I don't think that Caroline likes how you keep bringing up things that you used to do with Elena." I explained.

"I'm just trying to make conversation." He remarked.

"Well, you're doing it the wrong way." I explained. "If I was your girlfriend, I wouldn't like it either."

"So are you still interested in Tyler?" He asked.

"I was never interested in the first place." I pointed out. "We're just friends."

"So it looks like the belt needs to be loosened." He remarked.

"It's probably going to need a new air filter too." I added. He just looked at me. "What? Never seen a girl that knows anything about cars? You seem to forget that I drive an original Mustang."

"How did you manage to keep that running in foster care?" He asked.

"I knew the right people." I explained. "Let me go get the keys and I'll see if I can start it up."

I headed into Stefan's room where he kept his car keys and then headed back to the garage. I turned the lights on, opened the garage and drove it out.

I then turned it off and stepped out to see Elena and Caroline.

"So why don't you two go take it for a spin." I offered. "Just be careful. Stefan will kill me if anything happens to it."

The two of them drove off and then I looked to Elena.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"If it's not vampires, it's girlfriends." She explained. "So do you think that Stefan will forgive me for this?"

"I don't know." I pointed out. "You kissed his brother. It doesn't get a lot worse than that. So I promised you a day free of vampire drama, but tomorrow, we probably should do something about that guy that you saw. So what do you think? Am I a good date?"

"I'll find that out when I kiss you." She joked. "All in all, it's been a pretty weird night, but none of that has to do with you."

The two of them then came back and I could tell that they looked happier than when they left. Maybe they had talked about what I told Matt about. At any rate, it would be nice to get through the night without any more drama. As soon as I finished that thought, I heard the sound of something breaking and we headed into the hallway to Damon, looking like he was about to fuck Kelly against the wall.

I could tell that Matt was pissed. I was pissed at Damon, but it wasn't too out of the ordinary from other things that he had done. I was pretty sure that he hadn't compelled her. What happened was that Matt took his mom home and Elena took Caroline. I would go and pick up my car from her house later.

I then looked at Damon.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" I asked. "You can't just do stuff like that."

"What happened?" Stefan asked as he entered the house with Rachel. "Why is my car parked in front of the house?"

"Matt and I fixed it up." I explained.

Suddenly, the window broke open and two vampires: a bearded man and a woman came in. They looked angry. A fight broke out and I ended up getting stabbed in a stomach with some glass, but we ended up killing the woman and the man retreated. I couldn't help but wonder if that was the guy that Elena saw.

"I remember them." Stefan declared. "Both of them were in the tomb."

"Yeah about that…" Damon replied. "The tomb's kind of open."

I then decided to call Elena to make sure that she had gotten herself and Caroline home okay.

"Hey, I was just calling to check up on you." I declared.

"I had a good time considering." She stated as I pulled a shard of glass out and winced a little. "Are you okay?"

"I promised you a day without vampires." I reiterated. "We can talk about it in the morning."

"Okay, I don't know if this will make a difference, but do you think you could tell Stefan I'm sorry?" She asked.

I really didn't think it would make a difference.

So Brandy told Stefan about the kiss and we may have a new couple as a result. Also they found the vampires are out of the tomb. Please don't forget to review.


	18. Let the Right One In

It was late at night and I couldn't sleep because of the weather. I had to wake Rachel up a few times.

"Why won't you let me sleep?" She asked sleepily.

"Because you tend to hog the bed when you're in it alone." I explained. "I wonder how long this storm is going to go."

"I don't know, but I really want to sleep." She complained as I heard the rain on the rooftop.

"So are you not concerned at all about the fact that we were attacked tonight?" I questioned. I was really starting to get frustrated with her.

"There's probably sleeping right now, so we should do the same." She suggested. I sighed and realized that she was probably right. I laid myself down on the bed and tried to fall asleep once again. I knew it wouldn't be easy.

In the morning I got dressed in a strapless purple dress with black belt and a leather jacket, black socks, suede boots, a black bangle, a chain necklace and an arrowhead necklace. Technically because it was still raining, I didn't need to wear my ring, but the sun could come back out and I didn't want to take that risk. I took out my phone because I needed to call Elena.

"So what happened last night?" She asked.

"Two of the tomb vampires came here and attacked us last night." I explained. "That brings me to my second point in that all of the tomb vampires got out."

"So Bonnie's grandma died for nothing then?" She questioned.

"Unfortunately, yes." I remarked. "You should probably come over here and we can talk face-to-face."

At that point, Rachel came out of the shower and began to dress herself in white dress with red polka dots, a pink cardigan, black headband, white tights and pink flats.

"So you never did tell me how the date was last night." She remarked. I rolled my eyes. "I can't believe that you went out on a date with a girl.

"She forced me to." I argued.

"_Right_, a human forced a big bad vampire to go out with her." She quipped. "So when's the second date?"

"I don't like girls. You know that." I pointed out.

"There could be some remnants of your old self in there." She argued.

"If I liked girls, don't you think that you probably would have been the first girl I went after?" I asked her.

"Who's to say that I didn't use a spell to make it so you didn't like me?" She retorted. I blushed.

"I don't like girls." I repeated. As I heard the bell and realized that Elena was there. The two of us went to the living room. Damon was currently boarding up the broken window.

"I say we could go over to the Pearl's and annihilate the Neanderthal that attacked us." He suggested. Damon seemed like he would run into a fight without thinking. Like this guy Leeroy Jenkins from _World of Warcraft_…which I have never played.

"What do we do about the rest of them?" Stefan asked. "Do we say 'Oops, sorry'?"

"I can't believe that you made a deal with Pearl." Elena replied. Well he didn't really have a choice.

"Well she kind of forced the deal into my face." Damon explained. What an understatement. "Besides, she's going to help me find Katherine."

"Of course Damon gets what he wants no matter who gets killed in the process." Elena quipped.

"Hey, I don't need bitchy." He told her.

"I woke up to find that all of the vampires got out of the tomb." She pointed out. "I've earned bitchy."

"Are you ever going to forgive me for turning your mother into a vampire?" He asked.

"Forgive you, no, but I've accepted the fact that you're a self-serving psychopath with no redeeming qualities." She remarked. He had some redeeming qualities.

"Okay enough." I interrupted. "We'll find a way to deal with Pearl and whoever else."

Damon then walked away and Stefan headed to his room because he apparently didn't want to be around Elena any longer.

"I'm sorry, but he makes me so cranky and I'm not dealing with the fact that Stefan doesn't want to talk to me well." She added.

"Well Damon makes everyone cranky and Stefan will get over it." I assured her. Of course, I could be wrong about it, but she just kissed him while she was drunk. There were worse things she could have done.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked.

"We're going to handle it and you're going to go home." I explained.

"I can't just sit around the house and do nothing." She argued.

"That's exactly what you're going to do." I declared. "You have no idea how dangerous this is."

"Well I can't let you do this alone." She pointed out.

"Elena, the people I have are more useful than you." I remarked. "That includes Damon, even if he is a self-serving psychopath."

"That doesn't make me feel any better." She stated. "Just promise me that you won't go running into that house like a crazy person."

"There will definitely be more strategy than that." I promised her. "Now go home and let the vampires handle this."

Elena nodded and left and I noticed Rachel looking at me.

"What?" I asked. I had a feeling that there would be a snarky comment.

"You're so protective of your girlfriend." She commented.

"She's not my girlfriend." I reiterated with a blush.

I then headed to get something to eat. I was a bit hungry after last night and I still wasn't feeling at full strength after being stabbed. I knew that 16 ounces of A negative would really hit the spot. I also began to ponder what to do. As far as we knew, the only tomb vampire that was dangerous was the one who attacked us last night. Yes, Pearl was violent, but according to Anna, she wasn't a threat to us.

I then noticed that both Stefan and Rachel were by the door wearing raincoats.

"Where are you two going?" I asked.

"I'm going hunting." Stefan replied.

"And I'm going with him." She added. I couldn't help but think that the two of them forming a close friendship was a bit odd. They didn't really have a lot in common. I also couldn't help but wonder why Rachel wanted to drink animal blood, especially in the rain because she would probably smell like a wet dog afterwards.

"So what are you up to?" Damon asked me since it was just us in the house.

"I'm waiting to see if this rain will ever stop." I declared. "Do you think it's odd that Stefan and Rachel keep hanging out?"

"Not particularly, but then again I don't really care." He pointed out.

After an hour, the two of them weren't back and I couldn't help but be a little bit worried.

"How long does it usually take Stefan to go hunting?" I inquired.

"Usually not this long." He answered. "Maybe we should see if he's at Elena's."

I decided to take out my phone but neither he nor Rachel answered, which was not a good sign. From there, the two of us headed to Elena's house.

Damon tried calling her, but she didn't answer, so I tried calling her.

"Hello?" She replied.

"I need you to answer the door." I explained. She then came down and opened the door.

"You'll talk to her but you won't talk to me?" Damon asked.

"What's going on?" She questioned.

"Is Stefan here?" I inquired. It didn't seem like he was.

"No, why?" She replied.

"Stefan and Rachel went out hunting over an hour ago and never came back." I explained. I hoped it didn't mean what I thought it did. Elena then took out her phone.

"Straight to voicemail." She stated. "Where could they be?"

"I have an idea." Damon remarked. "You aren't going to like it."

That led to us heading to this house in the woods. Elena stayed in the car while Damon and I went to the door. He banged on it violently.

"Pearl, open this door or I swear to God I'll come in and rip your head off." He threatened.

"Yeah, that'll work." I quipped as the door opened and we saw the man with the beard from last night.

"Pearl's not home." He answered. "It's a beautiful day, not a ray of sun in the sky.

"Where's my brother/ Where's my friend?" Damon and I asked at the same time.

"Billy, Jacob bring them out." He stated. I then watched as the two of them were brought out. Both of them had their shirts off and looked injured.

"I'm gonna kill you." I declared as I tried to charge into the house, only to be stopped.

"I'm sorry. It looks like you haven't been invited in." The man declared with a smug smirk on his face. "Miss Gibbons, come here."

"Yes, Frederick honey?" A middle-aged woman asked as she came to the door.

"Never let this bad man or girl in." Frederick compelled.

"I'll never let them in." Miss Gibbons murmured. Damn it.

"I spent 145 years starving in a tomb. I thought your brother might want to know what that's like before I killed him." Frederick explained. "Plus I seem to be down a girlfriend now and I think your friend can help me with that. Billy, would you?"

Billy stabbed Stefan in the side before Frederick closed the door. Damon and I went back to the car in frustration.

"What happened? Where are they?" Elena asked.

"They're inside." I explained. "We can't get in."

"Why not?" She questioned.

"Because the woman who owns the house is compelled not to let us inside." Damon stated.

"We need to do them." She stated. "We can't let them die."

"Elena, we know but we don't know how to get them out." Damon replied.

"I have an idea." I responded.

We went to the school. I really hoped that he would be there again on a Saturday. It would probably be a good idea for us to find out where he lived. Damon was the first one to greet him and I was pretty sure that was a mistake.

"You missed the part where I try again and succeed." The teacher told my brother.

"Stop." I ordered as I stood in between them. "Both of you stop it."

"Mr. Saltzman, we need your help." Elena added.

We went to his classroom and he took a seat at his desk.

"There's this group of vampires that have kidnapped both Stefan and Rachel." I explained. "They're being held in this farmhouse and Damon and I can't get in and Elena's too fragile to go inside."

"Stefan told me about your ring." Elena added.

"What about it?" He asked.

"Seriously? Let me recap. You tried to kill me. I killed you instead. You are no longer dead. What am I missing?" Damon asked.

"The part where I try to kill you again, but succeed." The teacher declared.

"Mr. Saltzman, please Stefan and Rachel are good." Elena begged.

"Sorry, girls, but it's not my problem." He stated.

"That is a shame because the woman in charge of the crowd might be able to help you find your wife." Damon declared. What was he talking about?

"You're lying." Alaric told him.

"Am I?" Damon challenged. "You're a coward if you don't wanna find out. Come on, you two. It looks like we're knocking the house down."

We began to walk away before he walked over to us. I can't believe that worked.

He then opened up his desk which was loaded with weapons. How did the school not know about this? Though, I don't think I've seen the principal once since coming here.

"Teacher by day, vampire hunter by night." Damon commented. I rolled my eyes.

"I have you to thank for that." The teacher quipped.

"What are these?" Elena asked.

"Tranquilizers filled with vervain." Alaric explained as she grabbed one.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "No."

"Just get us in and we'll get them out." Damon replied.

"Seriously, we need a better plan." I declared.

"You can't just tell me that I'm not going." Elena declared.

"Elena, you are not going if I have to rip that necklace off and compel you." I replied. We can get them out. We will get them out."

Luckily, Elena's house was on the way.

"Get out of the car." I told her. She said nothing. "Elena, the longer you drag this out, the less time we have before they kill them. We love Stefan just as much as you do. I promise we'll bring him back."

She got out of the car and then we headed to the house. Alaric pretended to be a stranded motorist and after a few minutes, he got Miss Gibbons out.

"Just get her out here." Damon declared. "Miss Gibbons, do you have any family that lives here?"

"No." She answered.

"Good," Damon said before he snapped her neck.

"You were supposed to compel her." Alaric told him. It didn't work like that.

"We can argue over methods later. We have a rescue to make." I stated. "Just deal with her body."

The two of us then went into the house and snuck into the basement. There was a guard, but we dispatched him before we went inside the room. It looked like a torture dungeon. One vampire was staked to a chair, Stefan was shirtless and hanging from the ceiling but Rachel was even worse. She was naked and tied to a table.

"Grab those stakes out of him. We can cut the ropes with them." I declared. Damon did and freed Stefan while I took care of Rachel. She was barely conscious and looked like she had been crying. "Give me your jacket."

The jacket covered them up enough. I was in charge of getting them out because Damon was a much better match for Frederick, even though I wanted to tear his head off.

I took the two of them to the car, but there was one problem. The starter was gone. At that point, Frederick broke through the windshield and pulled Stefan out. I left Rachel in the car and ran out to see Frederick beating on him. I charge at him and began to fight with him, but I was no match. He threw me back to where Stefan was and grabbed a branch. I then had an idea. I might not be strong enough to stop him, but Stefan might be. I pulled the blood bag I was going to give Rachel out of my pocket.

"Stefan you need to drink this." I declared. He started to drink it and then got up and began to pound on Frederick. He started to stake him…repeatedly…after he was dead. I would have said it was overkill, but considering what he did, he deserved it. Eventually, I pulled him away.

"Come on, let's get home." I remarked.

"I'll get her home." He offered. "You should go and tell Elena that I'm alright because I'm sure that she's probably worried about me."

I then went to Elena's house as he began to carry Rachel away. I rang Elena's doorbell and she answered it.

"Well?" She asked me.

"We got them." I explained. "Both of them were really messed up and I'm pretty sure Rachel was raped, but they're out of harm's way for now. I told you we could do it."

She then hugged me tightly. I didn't know that humans were capable of hugging so tightly.

"Okay, I didn't think this was possible, but you're hurting me." I declared before she let go. As soon as she let go, her phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered. I then heard Jeremy telling her that they found Vicki's body. Well that wasn't good. From there, the two of us headed to Matt's house.

"Hey, come in, you two." He invited. It seemed like everyone was there that knew her. Caroline there because she was Matt's girlfriend and Jeremy was Vicki's boyfriend. I was a bit surprised to see Tyler there.

"Hey." I greeted him. "I'm a bit surprised to see you here."

"I cared about her, even if I didn't show it. I can't believe that she's gone." He explained. "Why are you here? You didn't even know her."

"Elena needed a ride." I answered. "I'm also here if anyone needs support."

I then realized that someone probably needed my support more.

"Actually, I need to get home." I replied. "It's been a rough day for everyone."

I then headed home and went up to our room, where Rachel was on the bed.

"Have you eaten yet?" I asked. She shook her head. "You need to eat. It'll help you get your strength back."

I then noticed that she had begun to cry once again and I wrapped her in a tight hug.

"It's going to be okay." I assured her. "We killed him and we made sure that he really suffered. I'm sorry that this happened to you."

I then began to sing softly into her ear.

_Another day has gone, I'm still all alone  
How could this be, you're not here with me_

_You never said good-bye, Someone tell me why  
Did you have to go and leave my world so cold?_

_Every day I sit and ask myself how did love slip away?  
Something whispers in my ear and says:_

_That you are not alone I am here with you  
Though you're far away I am here to stay  
You are not alone I am here with you  
Though we're far apart you're always in my heart_

I just hoped that our troubles were finally over.

Oh Brandy is so naive. She did prevent Elena from going, but things still went very bad for Rachel. Please don't forget to review.


	19. Under Control

It had been a few days. I couldn't help but notice that Stefan had a few of our blood bags a few days ago. I wasn't sure if he was still doing it. Also, Rachel was having nightmares about what happened to her. I finally was able to talk her into going back to school. I was wearing a black tank with a black hoodie and white shorts with a pair of black sandals, while she wore a grey cami with a red cardigan and blue knee-length skirt with a single braid in her hair and a pair of black heels. She was going to wait in the car while I checked on Stefan.

I found that Damon had the same idea and Stefan was blasting music and doing shirtless pull-ups on the rafters. Damon had his breakfast in a cup in his hands.

"Mind turning that up?" Damon asked. "It's not annoying yet."

"Sorry." Stefan apologized as he continued. I turned off the music and he jumped down.

"So are you coming to school?" I questioned as he started to do some pushups.

"Aw come on, just drink already." Damon instructed as he brought the glass closer to our brother. "This self-detox is unnatural."

"Would you get that away from me?" Stefan requested.

"How long did it take you to wean yourself off of it when you last indulged?" Damon asked. "That's not good."

"I'll be fine. It just takes some time." Stefan responded.

"I don't get it. You don't have to kill to survive. That's what blood bags are for." Damon told him.

"Actually, blood bags are for transfusions." I pointed out.

"I'm trying to get the town off of vampires which is not very easy considering that there's a whole tomb of them." Damon explained.

"How's that going?" Stefan questioned.

"Well it won't go well if you don't have your strength." Damon pointed out. "There's nothing wrong with partaking a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank. You're not actually killing anyone."

"I have my reasons." Stefan replied.

"Well I'm going to school." I announced. "If you're coming with me, I'm going now."

I headed out the door, hearing Damon go back after getting his blood from Stefan's room before he joined me outside.

"You're a dick." I told him.

When we got to school, I decided that I was not going to let Rachel out of my sight. So, we went to meet up with Elena at her locker.

"How are you feeling?" She asked Rachel.

"I'm not going to lie and say I'm good, but I am better." Rachel answered.

"How's Stefan?" She followed.

"I'm not sure." I admitted. "I don't know what's going on with him. You'd probably have to talk to him. So what is up with you?"

"My uncle John is in town." She stated.

"I didn't know you had an uncle." I declared.

"I know one thing that would make me feel better." Rachel interrupted. We both looked at each other. "I'd love to see you two lovebirds kiss."

"She's been teasing me ever since we went out." I explained before I took her to class. "Okay, stop with the lesbian stuff."

"It makes me feel good and don't you want me to feel good?" She asked.

"I think you need to find a new way of dealing with the pain." I stated. "One thing that might cheer you is the Founder's Day Kickoff party tomorrow night."

"Yeah, because the last Founder's Party was such a blast." She quipped. "I'm guessing that it will just be loads of fun."

"I don't need the sarcasm." I told her. "You are going whether you like it or not."

The thing about Founder's Day was it was more like Founder's Month. It was the town's 150th anniversary, so it was kind of a big deal. It seemed like it was bigger than when I was growing up. Maybe there was just more of a sense of town pride than before. I still didn't know what I was supposed to do for the whole month. The fact that I was still in Mystic Falls after several months was kind of amazing to me.

Another thing that was bothering me was the fact that Stefan and Elena hadn't seemed to make up yet. Of course, it wasn't really all that possible when he wasn't around. I couldn't help but wonder if there was a way that I could get the two of them in the same room.

That night, I went over to Elena's. Her family was having Chinese food together and we were in her room with some Chinese of our own.

"So have you talked to Stefan at all about what happened?" She asked before she put some noodles into her mouth.

"I haven't really talked to Stefan much about anything." I admitted. "I've been with Rachel a lot. All I know is Stefan doesn't like to drink human blood for some reason or another."

"So maybe we should stop talking about your uncle and talk about mine." Elena suggested.

"Do you know why he's here?" I questioned, even though I felt that there was more to talk about regarding Stefan.

"It's something about stopping a sale of my dad's building." She explained. "And then there's the fact that Alaric showed me a paper that Jeremy wrote for class that was about vampires."

"Does he know anything?" I asked.

"I don't know. Could your compulsion be wearing off?" She inquired.

"No. That only happens if the vampire doesn't drink human blood." I explained. "Maybe you should talk to him about it."

"It's not easy. We used to be a lot closer. I still haven't even told him that I'm adopted." She admitted.

"Well maybe you should start with that." I suggested. "There's no school tomorrow for some reason, so use that to bond."

At that moment, Rachel called me.

"Hello?" I answered. I hoped that she didn't have any sort of bad news.

"I think something's wrong with Stefan." She replied.

The following morning, Rachel and I took Damon to our room. I wasn't sure why Stefan had been in our room in the first place, but there was a small crack in the wall.

"What happened there?" I asked Rachel.

"Nothing." She answered. I could tell that she was lying.

"So did you know that John Gilbert is on the Founder's Council?" Damon questioned. "He seems smarter than everyone else."

"Great, we don't need that right now." I declared. "The important thing is Stefan. He says he's okay, but he's not. How long is this going to take?"

"A few days give or take." Damon answered.

"It's been a few days." I pointed out.

"Give then." He replied. "I don't see what the big deal is."

"The big deal is that he's not himself." Rachel stated.

"I think I know my brother better than you two." Damon declared. "The problem is he's trying hard not to be himself, but there's more to this."

"Stefan is not you." Rachel replied.

"He doesn't want to be but that doesn't mean that he isn't." Damon remarked. "Normal for a vampire is drinking human blood. There is nothing wrong with a healthy diet of human blood from a blood bank."

I knew that Damon was right about that, but I thought that Stefan was different. I knew that he was different. He somehow was able to function on human blood and I wanted to know why that wasn't working anymore. Damon didn't seem to be of any help in figuring out what was wrong. I also still didn't know why Stefan was in my room. Was there more to Stefan and Rachel's friendship than they were telling me? Had they been having some sort of affair?

I knew that one thing that I needed to do was getting ready for the party. The town seemed to have more formal gatherings than I was used to and I used to live in New York. I supposed it was all about the people that you knew and I had never been one to consort with the upper-class crowd. In Mystic Falls, I seemed to be part of the upper-class crowd on my name alone. Maybe it was because the Salvatores were a big deal again with the work that Damon had been doing with the Founder's Council.

The only downside to the party was the fact that I didn't have a date, but it seemed like the kind of event that you weren't supposed to bring a date to. It was more of a family thing. The one thing that I did notice was that Stefan seemed to be pretty drunk. I didn't know why he was drunk. Maybe it was because he had cravings. I didn't know what to do. He didn't actually seem to be drinking human blood but he was obviously struggling not to have it and it was not easy for me to watch.

I wore a lacy navy dress with one sleeve and red heels while Rachel had one a blue spaghetti-strap dress with red flats and a pink bangle.

"I should not be here." He replied.

"Sure, you should." Damon said. "It's a party for the Founding Families and that's us."

"I thought you hated everyone." I remarked.

"Oh I do, but I love that they love me." Damon replied.

I decided to look for Elena. I wanted to be with Rachel, but she really did seem better. I hoped that it would be okay for me to leave her alone. I wondered how she would feel about going for one of her sexual encounters considering what had happened to her. I didn't have any data to figure when people returned to having intercourse after such an event occurred.

Unfortunately, I had to deal with Stefan who had taken to more alcohol. It was like he was trying to stay drunk.

"Stefan, have you thought about putting the bottle down and dealing with this?" I questioned.

"I don't have anything to deal with." Stefan said. "I'm fine. It'll be over soon. I promise. I am going to be fine."

I wasn't sure if I believed him. According to Damon, Stefan had slipped a few times in the past, but he always managed to get better. It didn't look good at the moment.

"You know what this party needs: dancing." Stefan stated as he looked around.

"No one can dance to this." I remarked. It sounded like elevator music was playing.

"Then we just have to change the music." Stefan replied before he walked over to the DJ.

"Yeah, that's not gonna work." Kelly replied. "I tried bribing him twenty bucks and a blowjob but he wouldn't budge. He said Mrs. Lockwood has strict control over the music."

"Stefan can be very persuasive." I stated as I watched him compel the DJ. The Stefan I knew didn't compel people. Something was definitely wrong. He then came over and took Kelly's hand and led her to the dancefloor.

"Is he okay?" Elena asked me.

"Honestly, I don't know." I admitted. "I don't know what to do."

"Well I have an idea for what we can do right now." She said before she took my hand and led me to the dancefloor. I knew that it seemed pretty friendly, but I hoped that Rachel wouldn't see it because I knew that I would never hear the end of it. I could probably use a little bit of alcohol myself but I didn't feel like compelling anyone to get it. "I have to admit that this party is more fun than I expected it to be."

I was having fun, even though I was dancing with a girl. I was used to being led by taller people since Rachel's spell had made me so short. I was kind of surprised that Elena was so good at leading me to be honest. She even managed to spin me perfectly. Well not perfectly considering that I did end up hitting some guy who was just standing around for some reason. Didn't he know people were dancing?

"Sorry. I'm kind of clumsy." I apologized. It was the polite thing to do, even if it wasn't my fault.

"Then get off the dancefloor, Dyke." He replied. I didn't even feel like I needed to tell him that I wasn't a lesbian.

"Why don't you get off of it, Asshole. Some of us actually have people to dance with." I retorted. It was at that point that Stefan came over.

"That's no way to talk a lady." He stated.

"Whatever." The douchebag remarked before he tried to walk away. He tried, but Stefan stopped him.

"I think you should apologize." Stefan compelled.

"I'm sorry." The guy replied insincerely. Couldn't he have compelled him to mean it at least?

Nevertheless, Stefan was starting to really worry me, and I once again felt that I needed to talk to Damon about it. I hoped that he would be more useful this time. I found him standing by the balcony. He did not really seem like he was having a very good time.

"We need to talk about Stefan." I declared.

"I haven't really had time to worry about our brother because I've been too busy dealing with Elena's." Damon explained.

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"He's digging his nose into Vicki Donovan's death." Damon replied. "He's like 'But Sheriff, someone buried her, who would do that?' I know. Me!"

At that point, I texted Elena saying that she needed to talk to Jeremy about Vicki. I was only wearing a bra to keep my phone in it since I didn't have any pockets otherwise and I didn't need it to support my small breasts.

At that moment, John walked over to us.

"Damon, is it? We haven't met. I'm John Gilbert." He introduced before he shook Damon's hand. "And you're Brandy, Elena's friend."

"Yeah, it's a pleasure. Are you enjoying the kickoff?" Damon asked.

"I am. I forgot how much fun these small town celebrations can be." John answered.

"When's the last time you were here?" Damon questioned.

"It hasn't been that long: my brother and sister-in-law's funeral." John replied. "How long have you been in town?"

"Not long." Damon responded. There was something funny about the guy that I couldn't place.

"So what do you think about this vampire thing?" John asked. "It's a potential bloodbath."

"I would think it's best not to overreact John." Damon replied.

"I think it's like 1864 all over again with vampires running amok." John stated. "I guess we're just going to have to hunt them down, throw them in the church and burn them to ash."

"That is the story, huh?" Damon said before taking a drink.

"Part of the story." John remarked. I had a bad feeling about that.

"Oh, there's more?" Damon asked. I thought that maybe I should run away.

"There's a lot more." John replied. "It seems like there was a tomb under the church. The vampires were hidden away waiting for someone to set them free, but you two already knew that because you were responsible for it."

"And you're telling us this why?" I questioned.

"I just thought that we would get the introductions out of the way." John answered.

At that point, Damon grabbed him and broke his neck before throwing him off the balcony.

"Damon, what the fuck?" I asked as I grabbed him.

"Did anyone else see it?" He replied. I was pretty sure no one did.

"No." I told him.

"Then we're good. Don't look at me like that. I just eliminated a threat to us." He remarked before he walked away. Now I had to figure out a way to tell Elena about it. I had a feeling that she wouldn't be very happy. Hopefully she wouldn't blame me because there really wasn't anything that I could have done about it.

I then went back into the hallway and the first thing that I saw was Tyler…with his lips connected to Kelly. I was shocked and I couldn't help but feel a bit hurt even. Of course things only got worse from there because Matt and several other people also saw it, which caused Matt to attack him in a rage. Unfortunately for him, Matt was no match for him. What was it with Tyler constantly getting fights with people? It seemed like another reason that I could never be with him. In fact, I wasn't sure if I wanted any girl to be with him because he seemed like he could be a future domestic abuser. Thankfully, the mayor came in and broke it up. He looked like he was beyond pissed.

Later, there was some kind of opening ceremony for Founder's Month.

"And now we will ring the ceremonial bell." The mayor said. "Here to do the honor is our town's favorite son, John Gilbert."

I then looked in shock as I saw John walk onto the stage.

"Elena, look at your uncle's finger." I whispered to her.

"That looks just like the ring Alaric has." She noted.

"I don't think that's a coincidence since I just saw Damon kill him." I replied.

I then went to meet with Damon and Alaric outside. They seemed to have also noticed the ring.

"Heading out early?" Damon asked John.

"I never like to be the last one to leave a party." He answered. "Are you here to kill me again or are you going to let Mr. Saltzman do your dirty work?"

"So you obviously know who I am." The teacher remarked. He knew way too much.

"Alaric Saltzman, the high school History teacher with a secret." John replied.

"You sure know a lot for someone who just got to town." Damon commented.

"Yes, my knowledge of his goes beyond anything that any of you know." John explained. "So if you going to try to steal my ring and then kill me, everything that I know will go straight to the council, including the tragic tale of the Salvatores and their return to Mystic Falls."

"How'd you get that ring?" Ric asked.

"I inherited one, my brother Gray, the other. This was his. I never would have given mine to Isobel had I known that she would give it to another guy." John told us.

"So you did know Isobel?" Damon responded.

"Who do you think sent her your way when she wanted to become a vampire?" John rebutted.

"You sent her?" Damon asked in surprise.

"Who did you think? Maybe Katherine Pierce?" John countered.

"How do you know about Katherine?" I questioned. I still barely knew anything about her.

"How do I know anything, my dear Brandy?" He challenged.

"What do you want?" Damon asked.

"So many questions, it was a pleasure meeting you Ric. Isobel told me so much about you." John stated before he walked away.

"What the fuck was that?" I asked aloud.

I then went home and to my room, where I supposed Rachel was.

"Rachel, we have a…oh." I replied before I noticed her and Stefan making out on the bed. "I'll tell you later."

So I started this chapter a long time ago, but never finished it. I then read the story and realized I wanted to work on it again. I just hope that people will read it. I won't know if you don't review.


	20. Miss Mystic Falls

I woke up in the morning and noticed that Rachel wasn't in bed with me. I felt hungry and got up to eat and couldn't help but notice that the blood supply seemed really low. I didn't remember it being so low yesterday. Something weird was going on, but I didn't know what. I realized that I didn't have much time to think about it because I needed to get ready for school. I just needed to get some more later. I began to look through the house to see if anyone was there. There was something weird going on.

I put on a white lace short-sleeved dress with a brown belt and a pair of black heels. It was weird that no one else was in the house, but I didn't even know what Damon did in the morning.

I headed to school and went to find Elena because I needed to make sure that I wasn't the only person left in the world. I saw people on the way there, so it seemed unlikely, but I was still freaked out. I finally found Elena and hugged her.

"What's wrong?" She asked me. I probably did seem a little bit weird.

"Do I need an excuse to hug you?" I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy. Thankfully, before I had to say anything else, Stefan's car pulled up and he and Rachel got out of it.

"Nice car." Elena commented. My thoughts were more on the fact that the two of them always seemed to be together.

"I figured that it was too nice to leave in the garage." Stefan replied like no one was staring.

"Where were you this morning?" I asked. I was pretty much asking both of them since they had both vanished this morning.

"I think we need to get to class." Elena said.

"We'll catch up." Stefan replied before Elena and Ii walked off.

"Was Stefan acting weird to you?"

"Maybe a little, but he seemed happy, especially after what you said that he was going through." Elena commented. "I am starting to think that he might be hooking with Rachel though."

That was something that I hadn't considered. I couldn't help but wonder if she was right because the two of them seemed to be spending a lot of time together recently. I just didn't know why they would keep it a secret from me. Maybe that was why Stefan was acting so strange. I supposed that the easiest thing would be to apply Occam's Razor to the situation. That had to be it. He was acting weird because he and Rachel were secretly dating. It was just like that theory that it was vampires who built the pyramids.

"Good morning class." Alaric greeted us. "Today, our regular curriculum will be put aside so we can focus on some local history. Apparently the Founder's Council thinks it is more important than World War II but hey what do I know?"

I couldn't help but giggle a little. It was at that moment that Bonnie walked into the room. It seemed that she was back from wherever she went. I wasn't sure why she had gone away or why she had been gone so long. It was almost like she was shooting a movie or something, even though I knew that wasn't the case. Once we were done with class, I decided that maybe I should talk to Bonnie to see if she was okay. It seemed that Elena also had the same idea and the two of us met up with her.

"Hey, Bonnie." Elena greeted her.

"Hey, Elena, Brandy." The witch responded. She didn't seem very happy to see us. I didn't know why she was still upset. It had been a little while since her grandma had died and it wasn't like it was our fault. It really wasn't anyone's fault but her grandma's. I couldn't believe that she didn't think to channel any of us for extra power. Rachel told me that witches could channel the magical energy of vampires to make their spells stronger. "I'm sorry I haven't been around. I needed to be with family."

"How was your dad's family?" Elena asked.

"Normal and boring." Bonnie answered. "Listen, I can't really talk right now."

"Bonnie, I'm so glad that you're here." Caroline said as she gave her a hug. "I've missed you. I have so much to talk to you about. I'll tell you all about it when we're shopping for my dress for the pageant. It is going to be so much fun this year."

"The pageant?" I repeated. Were they still doing Miss Mystic Falls. I thought they would think it was anti-feminist or something. Of course it was a small town in the South.

"Yeah, they announced the Founder's Court for Miss Mystic Falls today." The blonde stated. It seemed like they were still doing it. "The three of us are all on it."

"What?" I questioned. I never thought that I would be in the running for Miss Mystic Falls.

"Yeah, it's something that they nominate girls from the Founding Families for…and Amber Bradley." Caroline explained. I wasn't sure who Amber Bradley even was.

Still, it looked like I would need to find a dress. It had been a while since I had worn such a formal dress because I wasn't big on formal events. It was normally the thing that I would talk to Rachel about, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to count on her. I couldn't help but wonder if it would be a good idea for Elena and I to go together. We were supposed to be competing against each other.

I decided to call her when I got home from school. I hoped it wouldn't be too awkward.

"Hi." I stated.

"What's up?" She replied.

"I don't really know anything about the pageant." I admitted. "I assume that it's changed a lot since I last saw it and I really wasn't even paying attention back then anything."

"Yeah, it's always been more of a girl thing." She replied. "So what do you want to know?"

"Well for starters, I wanted to know if I could go dress shopping with you." I explained. "This pageant doesn't really seem like your thing."

"It actually is my thing, or at least it was born my mom died." She answered. "We signed up for it together. She was always big with the Founder's Council. She was even Miss Mystic when she was my age. It's a little hard to live up to."

"So can I go shopping with you?" I repeated.

"Sure, just give me a few minutes to get ready and I'll come and pick you up." She agreed. I was glad that she wasn't being too competitive about it.

"I could meet you there." I offered before I began to look for my shoes.

At that moment, I noticed that Rachel and Stefan came back into the house.

"Hey, I was going to shopping for a dress for Miss Mystic Falls." I explained. I then looked at Rachel specifically. "Do you want to come with me by any chance?"

"I can't." Rachel replied. "I have homework to do. Maybe we can do something later?"

"Sure." I agreed. "By the way, we're really low on blood. Do you think you can get some more?"

"Yeah, I'll do that." Rachel responded. "I'll take Stefan with me."

"Okay." I stated before I was out the door. "Oh by the way, Stefan, you're going to be my escort."

The next day, I was in front of Mrs. Lockwood and two other women for some sort of interview process.

"This year's queen will have the special honor of representing the town at the 150th anniversary celebration." Mrs. Lockwood stated. "Before we crown our winner, we'd like to get to know a bit more about each of you."

I tried to think of what I was supposed to say.

"I'm not the most involved person in community, I recognize that." I admitted. "I guess what I want the most is to be the first Salvatore to the win the pageant. I could make my ancestors proud."

I had checked that. Of course there weren't a lot of females in the Salvatore family. I would probably also be the first vampire to win, but I could not prove that.

After the interview thing, we headed to the cafeteria for dancing. I wasn't sure why they were doing it at the school instead of the Founder's Hall, or even better yet the Lockwood mansion where the actual pageant was being held.

What made less sense was the weird dance that they were making us do. I was using the term dance lightly, because it didn't involve us touching at all. We were making weird gestures with our hands as we walked around each other like we were afraid of germs. Why did anyone think it was a good idea? I couldn't help but laugh a little as I tried to keep my composure.

"This is stupid." I said through my teeth.

"You're just mad because you don't know how to do it." Stefan retorted.

"I'm sorry that I'm not as old as the dance." I quipped.

"Ouch." Stefan replied before he grabbed me and dipped me. That caused Mrs. Lockwood to run over to us.

"Stefan, there is no touching during this part." She instructed. "It's all about the thrill of the near touch."

Once she was out of earshot, Stefan decided to whisper something to me.

"If you ask me, the near touch is overrated." He said. I giggled a little at that. I imagined the other girls, except for Elena, thought that we were weird.

We then took a break from dancing and I happened to notice that Caroline had finally showed up and she had brought Bonnie with her.

"Hey, Bonnie do you think that you can talk now?" Elena asked. "It'll just take a minute."

"We only have five minutes." Bonnie pointed out.

"Please?" Elena begged. Bonnie sighed and followed the two of us into the hallway. I still didn't know why she was avoiding us.

"Why have you been avoiding us?" I asked. I decided that I wouldn't beat around the bush.

"I'm not going to say that I'm okay with any of this stuff because I'm not." Bonnie explained. "My Grams died opening the tomb and it was your idea. I've been avoiding you two because when I look at either of you, all I can see is her lifeless body."

I wanted to snap her at her and say that it wasn't our fault and her grandma had chosen to do that, but I figured it would be no use.

The next day, I was getting ready at Elena's house because I figured it would be less crazy. I actually wasn't getting ready at all. I was just riding with her.

"Can you get the door?" Elena asked me.

I headed downstairs and answered the door to see Alaric in a suit.

"Hi." I greeted him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm driving." He declared. He seemed to be missing the hat for that. "So have you noticed Stefan acting weird lately at all?"

"Other than the fact that he's hiding that he's dating Rachel, no." I responded.

"I think something is definitely up with him." The teacher told me.

From there, we went to the Lockwood house and I knew that I needed to get ready. I saw that Rachel was wearing a white feathered dress.

"What are you wearing?" I asked her.

"Shut up, this is sexy." She argued.

"Well, why is it so long? You're not even in the pageant." I pointed out.

"Because I wanted to wear some 60s fashion as in really 60s fashion and not any of that hippie crap. You and I both know that that wasn't as big of a thing as people say it was."

"I'm going to go upstairs and get ready now." I stated. I still didn't know why Rachel was acting so strange and why she couldn't just tell me that she was dating Stefan.

Once upstairs, I took a seat next to Elena in the green room. She had Jenna curling her hair for her. I decided to go with a simpler style with mine side-swept over my shoulder. I also put on some butterfly earrings.

"I really wish Mom was here." Elena replied. I never thought about how my mom would have felt about me. I knew that she probably wouldn't be a fan of the vampire thing, but I also knew that she always wanted a daughter.

"Your hair would probably have a better chance if she was." Jenna quipped.

"So I'm going to go get dressed." Elena replied. I decided to follow her since I was done as well.

"Me too." I added.

"Shouldn't Rachel having been helping you with that?" Elena asked me as we went to one of the changing rooms.

"Rachel is being really distant right now." I explained. I still did not have any reason why. We walked inside to see Amber. She looked like she was freaking out. "Amber, are you okay?"

"I hate being the center of attention." The blonde replied. "I get panic attacks."

"Do you want to be alone?" Elena questioned.

"No, I just need some air." Amber stated before she left the room.

"That was weird." I commented before took my dress out. However, before either of us could start changing, Damon walked into the room. "You can't be in here."

"We have a problem." Damon explained. "Stefan's hiding something."

"He's dating Rachel. I already knew that. I don't see how that's a problem." I replied.

"While that may or may not be true, the real issue is Stefan is drinking human blood and he's got your friend doing it with him. They've got a stash in Stefan's room."

"What?" Elena asked. I was still processing that Rachel would lie to me about it after everything that we had been through all of the years we'd been together. "He said that he was better."

"He's Stefan on human blood. He'll say anything as long as he doesn't have to stop." Damon remarked. "He's a different person than the Stefan you know."

At that moment, Stefan walked into the room and I glared at him. Elena just frowned at him.

"What's going on here?" He asked.

"I was just informing the girls about your extracurricular activities." Damon told him.

"What are you talking about?" Stefan replied.

"We know about the blood Stefan." I stated.

"I'm gonna go." Damon announced before leaving.

"We know what you have been really doing with Rachel too." I added.

"I was going to tell you two." Stefan replied.

"When?" Elena asked.

"So I'm drinking human blood? What's the big deal? It's not like anything has changed." Stefan said.

"It's changing you. You're lying and you took advantage of Rachel in a vulnerable time" I pointed out.

"I was going to tell you, but judging by your reaction, can't you see why I haven't yet?" Stefan asked.

"Do you hear what you're saying?" Elena responded.

Before Stefan could say anything Mrs. Lockwood entered the room.

"Girls, the lineup is starting." She said.

"We'll be out in a minute." Elena replied.

"You're not even dressed yet." She stated before looking at Stefan. "Escorts wait downstairs, Stefan."

A few minutes later, Elena and I were in our dresses. Mine was red strapless taffeta and I wore matching heels while Elena had a blue silk one with blue heels.

"Where is Amber?" Mrs. Lockwood asked. I hoped that she was just having cold feet because bad things tended to happen when people couldn't be found.

"Do you see Stefan down there?" I asked. I was still worried about him as well

"Nope, just my generic fill-in escort." Caroline told us. Elena also had one.

"What happened to Matt?" Elena questioned.

"He couldn't get off work." Caroline explained. I couldn't help but wonder who was going to the Grill during the pageant. "What happened to Stefan?"

"I don't know." I answered before Caroline was called down. "Should I try to find him?"

"I think it's too late for that." Elena said before she too was called down.

"Brandy, you're next." Mrs. Lockwood told me. I knew that since I was the only one there.

"Brenda Salvatore, and her escort, Stefan Salvatore." Mayor Lockwood said as I descended the stairs to see that Stefan still wasn't there. I felt pretty embarrassed by it and I was pretty sure that I saw the mayor push Tyler over to me. As much I didn't like him, I was glad that I didn't have to be alone.

"Please tell me you know this dance." I whispered.

"I do." Tyler confirmed before he took me to the dancefloor which was outside.

We danced for a few minutes to some obscure alternative song before we headed back inside. It was after dark by the time that they prepared to announce the winner. Amber was still nowhere to be found and neither were Stefan or Rachel.

"Where's Amber?" Caroline whispered.

"I don't know." Elena whispered back.

"Before we announce the winner, let's have a big round of applause for these young ladies and all the work they've done in the community." Mayor Lockwood said before there was clapping. "And now for this year's Miss Mystic Falls…Miss Brenda Salvatore!"

I couldn't believe that I had won. Maybe they really did like me.

Later, I went outside with Elena and Damon. I was really worried about Stefan and didn't know what to do. I looked down at my sash, still surprised that I had won.

"Do you hear that?" Damon asked. That was I heard a faint screaming and ran over to the source. We found Amber being chased by both Stefan and Rachel. Both of them had blood trickling down their mouths.

"Stefan, stop." Elena said as I tried to restrain Rachel. It was quite difficult. I hadn't ever seen her like that.

Damon tried fighting him, but Stefan surprising had the upper hand. It looked it was going to be a challenge, especially when Rachel broke free. It looked like Amber was going to die until Bonnie showed up and both Stefan and Rachel grabbed their heads before running off.

It soon led to Sheriff Forbes showing up. It looked Amber was going to be okay and I also compelled her to forget.

Finally, I made my way home. The first thing that I saw was Rachel.

"What the fuck happened today?" I asked.

"I didn't know what to do. It was like all I could think about was the blood." Rachel remarked. "I don't know what's happening to me."

"Don't worry, I'll make you better." I promised before I gave her a hug. I then broke her neck and noticed that Elena had also subdued Stefan. It was going to be an interesting next few days.

So Brandy won and it likes Rachel went blood-crazy too. Will the girls be able to help them? Pleas don't forget to review.


End file.
